Victoria Lowest Funded State in Australia

Victoria has been on a spending spree, education included, but that looks to have come to a shuddering halt.

Bilateral agreements between Federal, State and Territory governments were signed without being publicly announced last year, extending them for the 2024 school year and effectively negating any increase to the Commonwealth’s share of Schooling Resource Funding until 2025.

The Victorian agreement provides no increased funding for public schools in 2024 and both the State and Federal Government contributions remain the same as 2023.

More funding could be cut from education in the upcoming State Budget and expenditure for crucial teacher tutors could be scrapped.

“For our education ministers to sign agreements that deliver no increase to the Commonwealth share of Schooling Resource Standard funding is deeply disappointing, particularly when our own state government has provided no indication of increasing their own share of funding,” AEU Victorian Branch President Meredith Peace Ms Peace said. 

“Victoria remains the lowest SRS funded state in Australia at just 90.45 per cent, with the Commonwealth only contributing to 20 per cent of this amount. As a comparison, private schools in Victoria are funded to 102.1 per cent of the SRS – with the Commonwealth providing 82.1 per cent of that share.  

“The challenges that public schools are facing are becoming increasingly complex, and our educators are being let down by governments full of rhetoric but consistently failing to act on their promises to deliver full SRS funding.

“Victorian teachers are working as hard they can to deliver the best possible outcomes for students, but their workloads are becoming increasingly unsustainable, and the teacher shortage crisis continues to exacerbate these problems.”

Image by Mitchell Luo