Letter from Lolly Jar Thief Number 1

TRS07D1353

Date: 28 August 2007

Mr Colin Campbell

clutterbells@gmail.com

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

This is the original happy news release from the Minister

I just love the term efficiency dividend. I am sure you would all be happy if your boss said that they were implementing an efficiency dividend. For you and me that is a pay cut or a redundancy. For the school system, it is money taken out of resources for kids.

June 14, 2007

More funds than ever before are being invested into the State’s education system to benefit children, Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith said today.

“Just last week, the Rann Government announced a further boost to the education budget, providing an extra $708 for every government school student, an increase of 6.7%.

“We are now engaged in an ambitious program of reforms to reshape our public education system in the best interests of today’s children and future generations.

"Brand new schools, new Children’s Centres and ‘school to work’ reforms to create trade schools and a new SACE are all aimed at giving young South Australians a better start in life.

“More than $25 million has been trimmed from the Education Department’s central office and we have invested in key areas such as literacy and numeracy and smaller class sizes.

“The State Government accepts that redirecting funds may not be popular but hard decisions are required if public education in South Australia is to deliver quality education for children.

“There is more funding overall for education and every dollar saved is being reinvested in education to improve our schools and opportunities for the State’s children.


"All of these savings were outlined in last year’s State Budget media release, dated Thursday 21st September 2006, and include:

*
$17.9 million over three years – schools will no longer retain the benefit of interest on money stored in school bank accounts, so today’s education funding is spent on today’s children.
*
$17 million over four years – state and district offices will be restructured and our investment in the SA Solar Schools and water conservation programs will help save energy and water and reduce costs.
*
$16.9 million over four years - as part of local management, schools will manage their workers compensation obligations. We anticipate greater local responsibility will reduce the number of staff claims.
*
$16.9 million over four years - introduce new ways to manage ‘floating teachers’ or those who are permanently employed by the education department but who do not hold a full-time position in a school.
*
An efficiency dividend of $36 million over four years.
*
Total savings of $170.3 million over four years.

"Despite these savings for reinvestment, overall the education budget provides, on average, $11 204 for every government school student – an increase of $3 600 in spending per student since 2001-02.”