Liberal Statement on WorkCover

Rann School tax undermines public education
Another first for South Australia and the Rann Government – a school tax!
The Rann Government is proposing to tax all public childcare centres, kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools to recover part of the government’s workers compensation costs. This tax will ‘save’ the Rann government, and cost our schools around $17 million over 4 years.
The Rann School Tax will be levied at 1 percent of total salaries at each site.
Schools say this tax, combined with other Rann Government cuts to education, will cost annually over $100,000 for secondary schools, around $50,000 for primary schools and $4000 for kindergartens.
Secondary schools with discretionary budgets of $400,000 are getting cuts of over $100,000 per year - some, over $200,000 per year.
Primary schools with discretionary budgets of $70,000 suffer cuts of around $50,000 per year.
How are schools meant to cope with such cuts?
One option is to charge higher school fees. To recover the amount of the cuts in fees, families are looking at $100 per student more each year. Higher fees do nothing for many families who can’t afford the fees at the current level.
If fees are not increased schools say it means less equipment replaced, less books replaced, cuts to curriculum, no new computers, less professional development for teachers and more parent fundraising.
But under Minister ‘School Tax’ Smith, parent fundraising is under attack. The Rann Government is now considering taking back interest earned by schools on bank accounts. In many cases this is money raised by parents through their own fundraising efforts to fund improvements for their local school and now the government is raiding schools’ bank accounts to top up its own funds.
At the same time that the Rann Government is looting schools’ bank accounts, it is asking parents and schools to pay out even more money to cover costs usually borne by the government.
Aren’t parents lucky? They can now fundraise to help pay a tax on schools.
By taxing schools it will discourage parents from fundraising which will have two effects. It means less fundraising will be done and schools’ facilities will suffer as a result. It also means that school spirit will suffer because there may be less involvement from parents in the school community. Both are bad news for the quality of education delivered in South Australia.


The Rann School Tax comes on top of:
• Cancelling of the Be Active – Let’s Go program
• Proposed cuts to music and aquatic programs
• Cuts to the $30,000 Small Schools Grants
• First Aid training is now a school cost
It gets worse – schools may now have to pay for the first four weeks for staff who replace injured staff. The extra cost - $6500 per injured worker. Schools that budget for two injuries a year will have to find another $13,000 out of school funds (parent’s funds). Some schools are budgeting $10,000 extra per term – another $40,000 extra cost annually on top of the tax.
The Rann Government can try and convince the public that it is committed to public education but its priorities are anything but funding the system properly. The Rann Government has spent $20 million on establishing a foreign university here in Adelaide and around $24 million on extra spin doctors and staffers. At the same time it’s asking parents to put their hands into their pockets and pay even more for basic education at our schools.
This direct attack on schools through the introduction of a tax and other cost cutting measures undermines public education in South Australia.
Schools are being asked to do more with less and yet deliver a quality education system.
I urge parents to contact their schools – ask about the impact of the tax and cuts on their school and their budget.
Welcome to Labor’s Education Revolution.