Lenore Taylor reports in The Guardian Australia (7.4.16) on calls from education experts for the federal government to reveal the data and evidence underpinning its mooted changes to schools funding.
‘Education experts have accused the Turnbull government of using “incredibly flimsy evidence” to support its claim that more schools funding does not deliver better student results and have demanded the release of data to properly test the crucial assertion.
‘Schools funding is emerging as a central election battleground, with Labor pledging $4.5bn to pay for the extra money promised for the final two years of the “Gonski” education plan from 2018 and writing to every public school attacking the government’s policy.
‘The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has declined to offer any extra money and has argued that more funding has not delivered improved educational outcomes and that teacher quality is far more important.’