$1.7b slashed from education budget
Every school across New South Wales is facing State Government funding cuts, with the education budget being slashed by $1.7 billion.
Public, private and Catholic schools will all be hit and nearly 2000 department jobs will go, in what critics say is the biggest cutback in 20 years.
With larger classes, higher fees and mass redundancies, teachers fear that the state government's class war will hurt.
Joan Lemaire from the New South Wales Teachers' Federation says the cuts won’t just hurt today’s students, but students into the future.
To make up for a revenue downturn $1.7 billion dollars will be ripped from the education budget over the next four years.
TAFE fees will increase by 9.5 per cent, while 800 workers will also lose their jobs.
A further 600 office staff will go as part of an overall cut of 1800 staff and a budget reduction of 3 per cent.
New South Wales Education Minister Adrian Piccoli says it’s obvious that no one wants to make these decisions.
"I am the minister for all schools. I sleep well tonight knowing that the decisions I have made are in their best interests," Piccoli says.
On Sunday, Premier Barry O’Farrell announced a new water slide and yesterday he tackled a Tiger's twitter troll.
But today, he left it to his minister to sell what's been called the biggest education cut in decades.
The minister says independent and Catholic schools will lose $116 million over the next four years and public schools will have $201 million cut from their budgets.
The State Opposition Leader John Robertson says the cuts will impact on every parent, student and school community across the state.
Twenty-three years ago 80,000 people rallied against the Coalition's teacher cuts.
Now staff from independent schools are planning a similar response.
