The majority of ACT public school principals are facing difficult choices as they grapple with their school budgets for 2027.
The Education Directorate has said it wants to distribute funding more equitably across the public school system.
A review of resourcing found that some primary schools in particular were missing out and the territory needed to move away from a diagnosis-based system of funding students with disabilities and learning difficulties.
While this aim might be worthy, the way the directorate has put this into practice has been nothing short of a shambles.
Last year, the majority of public schools needed top-up funding in addition to their student resource allocation just to get through to the end of the school year. Schools have also received one-off funding top-ups this year.
It's clear that the current school budget crisis was many years in the making.
Instead of getting ahead of the budget crisis, the directorate waited until the later part of this year to give principals their new budgets for 2027. This was said to include $40 million in extra funding for students with higher needs.
But data obtained by The Canberra Times suggests these cuts are broader and deeper than the public was led to believe.
At least 58 public schools will have a cut in their budget in 2027 compared with the actual amount they received this year.
The cost of salaries of teachers and other support staff make up the majority of school expenses. So it should be no surprise that principals are having to cut valuable staff members next year in an effort to work within their new budget allocations.
Schools are going back to the bare minimum staffing levels to make their new budgets work. It seems that learning support assistants - sometimes known as teacher's aides - are being let go as are other administrative assistants.
While these staff members are not professional teachers, they play a vital role in making schools run safely.
It is often a learning support assistant's job to supervise students with disabilities, learning difficulties or trauma so that they can take part in a mainstream classroom. They build up rapport with these students over years so that they feel safe at school and can reach their full potential.
It would appear that taking away these supports has the opposite effect of ensuring equity in schools. It also raises serious concerns about a possible increase in occupational violence in schools.
The education minister said principals should not have been surprised about budget changes after the school resourcing review called for a redistribution of funding.
However, that same review also said there needed to be transparency about how school budgets were calculated. So far this transparency has been sorely lacking.
ACT public schools could look very different next year.
Class sizes could increase, small group programs merged or reduced, creative arts lessons could be cut in response to reduced funding.
This could have a real and lasting impact on the learning of ACT students.
P&Cs could be called on to use their fundraising efforts to pay for core programs rather than new playground equipment.
The directorate and the minister need to clearly explain to school communities why the level of service and support they had before will be no longer and how this is in any way equitable.
