TRS07D1353
Date: 28 August 2007
Mr Colin Campbell
Dear Mr Campbell
Thank you for your e-mail dated 17 August 2007 regarding funding for the public education
sector.
The State Government recognises that education is the key to young South Australians
gaining the skills, values and attributes they need to contribute to our community in the 21
st
Century.
The 2006-07 Budget introduced a range of savings measures across all portfolios of
government. These savings measures were introduced to provide additional spending
capacity for high priority areas including education. Recent commitments by the Government
that have demonstrated this include:
Brand new schools as part of a $216 million Education Works investment in better school
buildings and learning environments;
Investment of $28.8 million to develop an additional 10 ‘one stop’ children’s centres
bringing the total number of these centres to 20;
Support of $29.5 million for the provision of 10 new trade schools to foster practical work
skills;
As part of the ‘school to work’ strategy, $54.5 million to implement a new senior
secondary ‘SACE’ qualification; and
Increased investment in literacy and numeracy, and smaller class sizes in the early
years.
The 2007-08 Budget continues our commitment to the education system with increased
spending on education and children’s services of $127.2 million compared to the 2006-07
Budget. The 2007-08 Budget provides, on average, an additional $708 for every government
school student when compared to the previous year, an increase of 6.7%. Since 2001-02,
spending on each student has increase by $3,606. In this context, the savings measures
represent a relatively small rearrangement of funding within a context of very large increases
in spending per student.
I thank you for your interest in our public schools and children’s services.
Yours sincerely
Kevin Foley MP
DEPUTY PREMIER
TREASURER