War of words over school budget cuts

Member for Terrigal Adam Crouch has condemned the NSW Government over recent revelations that public school budgets have been cut by almost $150M, despite promising prior to the State election that union deals would not impact Central Coast classrooms.

Crouch said the $150M cut would have a significant impact on students and teachers in Central Coast schools, accusing the Government of a classic display of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

“Prior to the election, Labor and the Central Coast Labor members claimed that their union wage deal wouldn’t impact the budget, and we are seeing time and time again that this just simply isn’t the case,” Crouch said.

“This recent revelation is yet again an example of the Minns Labor Government’s total lack of respect for the people of the Central Coast, saying one thing in opposition and doing the total opposite in government.”

Shadow Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell said the Government needed to come clean to parents about how their children would be affected.

“For more than six months now, we have been calling on the Education Minister (Prue Car) to tell us where the ‘savings’ for these union deals would come from, but now we know our students are the ones that are going to pay the price,” she said.

“Prue Car went out in the media and misled parents and teachers, assuring them the money would not be taken from schools because she had found enough savings from within the bureaucracy.

“Now we could see fewer school jobs and resources, which will have direct consequences on learning – parents have every right to be furious.”

But a NSW Government spokesperson said the Labor Government was reforming the state’s education system after the Liberals and Nationals “presided over more than a decade of failed policies, creating a teacher shortage crisis and leading to declining education outcomes”.

“The fact is the former government decimated public education in NSW, and we have a big job to rebuild it,” the spokesperson said.

“It will take time; we can’t fix 12 years of neglect overnight.

“But we’re determined to ensure we have the best public education system in the world.

“Over the past five years, classroom teachers were deprioritised and public school enrolments fell by almost 25,000 students.

“In regional areas, the teacher shortage crisis has been felt more severely, with the former Government’s policies further exacerbating these issues.”