Mr MATT KEAN (Hornsby) [3.22 p.m.]: I move:
That this House supports the Government in delivering on its election commitment to give decision-making power back to local schools and school communities.
Earlier, in urging the House to accord this motion priority, I said there can be no higher priority for members of Parliament than improving the education system in New South Wales and delivering world-class education for our students.
I say that knowing that members of this place are engaged in many important endeavours, such as rebuilding the State's economy, reforming the delivery of health care and fixing our transport system. Our success in all such endeavours begins, not when a businessman comes up with an idea, or when a nurse or doctor does the rounds; our futures are determined each and every day that our children enter the classroom. There can be no greater priority than improving our education system. We owe that to our children and to our future.
This reform will revolutionise how we deliver education in New South Wales. The Coalition Government believes decisions ought to be made by those closest to the people affected by the decisions. This Government trusts school principals, teachers and communities to decide what is best for them. That is why the Government is delivering on its election commitment to return decision-making power to the schools and school communities of New South Wales. Earlier I touched on the Gonski report, which flagged problems in our education system. This reform is necessary. The former Minister for Education and Training did not have the courage to deliver this reform, and she failed to do so. She did not have the courage to stand up to her paymasters in the union movement. This material reform will effect a change that this State needs.
Increasing schools' autonomy is a cornerstone of real reform in education. A good example of the importance of increasing local autonomy was seen in the Building the Education Revolution [BER] program. Government schools were not given the same opportunity as were non-government schools to manage their projects. Evidence from the Federal Government's own Building the Education Revolution task force shows that government school buildings constructed under the program cost two or three times more than did similar constructions delivered in the non-government school sector. It is an indisputable fact that involving principals and schools in their own projects results in greater value for money. That constructing school buildings cost two or three times more in government schools than those built by non-government schools meant that the extra money spent could have gone to improving programs, improving teacher training and student learning—spending the money where it should be spent, on improving student learning outcomes by improving teachers' ability to teach. I spoke with the principal of Asquith Public School, which provides an example of the failure of the Building the Education Revolution program. The school wanted a covered learning area. The cost was $200,000, which was $100,000 more than was left in the school's original budget. That denied the school a covered learning area. A local quote for those works was $60,000. So the school could have funded and built a facility that would have made a material difference in learning outcomes in the school community of Asquith had it been able to organise that project locally.
It is important to recall why the Building the Education Revolution debacle occurred. Essentially, it was because local schools were not trusted to manage their own projects. The Coalition trusts schools to make their own decisions over infrastructure, with appropriate support. Trusting local school communities and granting them greater autonomy will encourage more community involvement and truly revolutionise teaching and learning. I am in favour of any program that will give schools more control over staffing, programs and the spending of the schools' resources. That will allow them to better accommodate students' needs and respond quickly as things change. The Coalition trusts principals. We believe in treating staff like adults, and we believe in engaging school communities and building school pride. All the evidence suggests that learning outcomes are improved by devolving power on the making of decisions to people who are closest to those who will be affected by those decisions.
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