Teachers rally against government school cuts

Schools across Kwinana and Rockingham are set to lose almost $4 million in funding as the State Government cuts back in preparation for its student-centred funding model.

Opposition leader Mark McGowan and Kwinana MLA Roger Cook hit out at the Government’s plans last week, saying the cuts were being made to hide its financial mismanagement.

“Mr Barnett is so desperate to rake in cash to cover his budget black hole and reckless spending that he is happy to compromise the future of hundreds or even thousands of students in Rockingham,” Mr McGowan said.

With the cuts including 350 job losses to education assistants and loss of funding for specialist programs, Bertram Primary School Parents and Citizens Association president Vicki Trayler said she was concerned her children would miss out on additional learning opportunities.

“I know the support for children with disabilities is not going to lessen, which is a good thing, but what about all the other kids,” she said.

“There are some kids, who do not have a disability but have learning difficulties themselves and are always backwards, so I want to see more funding.”

Mrs Trayler said Bertram was at risk of losing special projects such as its Kitchen Garden and Community Chat.

“The schools will start asking the P and C’s to start fundraising more and we struggle because we are a low-socio-economic area,” she said.

Mr Cook said the Government was using the education reform as an excuse to make budget cuts.

“The reforms they are talking about won’t come into affect until 2015 to 2016, these cuts will take place straight away,” he said.