Federal funding to support greater local decision making in New South Wales government schools

10 Feb 2015 Media release

New South Wales will benefit from the Australian Government’s $70 million Independent Public Schools initiative by increasing local decision making in the state’s public schools.

Minister for Education and Training the Hon Christopher Pyne MP said he welcomed New South Wales’ commitment to putting students first and supporting government schools to operate more independently.

“The New South Wales Government has shown great enthusiasm and commitment in supporting government schools to make local decisions about what is best for their school,” Mr Pyne said.

“The Australian Government’s Independent Public Schools initiative is designed to encourage greater autonomy in government schools.”

Between 2014 and 2017, New South Wales will receive $22.75 million from the Australian Government.

Under the Independent Public Schools initiative, every New South Wales government school will be allocated base funding of $5,000 plus an allocation based on the number of students at each school.

The funding will be used for several activities including enhancing and increasing community engagement in local decision making in New South Wales under the Local Schools, Local Decisions initiative.

“This will enable schools to undertake activities appropriate to their circumstances, such as the delivery of training modules and workshops to support better community engagement,” Mr Pyne said.

Schools will also have the benefit of support from Principals School Leadership, which consists of expert principals working with local school principals to build leadership capacity in community engagement activities.

The Australian Government’s Students First approach focuses on four key areas that will make a difference to students:

  • teacher quality
  • school autonomy
  • parental engagement
  • strengthening the curriculum

For further information, visit www.studentsfirst.gov.au.


Tags: students first, New South Wales,