On 26 November 2024 the Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024 passed through the Australian Parliament. This will deliver an increase in Commonwealth funding for public schools across Australia. The legislation will enable the Australian Government to lift its funding so that public schools in Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, are fully funded, as well as any other jurisdiction that signs on to the Australian Government’s public school funding offer in the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement (2025-2034) (BFSA).
The Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024 amends the Australian Education Act 2013 to turn the current 20% maximum contribution for Commonwealth funding of public schools, instead into a minimum and allows this contribution to increase for states and territories signed up to the BFSA, putting their schools on a pathway to full and fair funding at 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard. The new legislation also increases transparency and accountability for how school funding is spent by establishing it as an object of the Act, and requiring the Minister for Education to prepare an annual statement to Parliament on progress made in relation to the BFSA.
Find out more about the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, or read the ministerial media release: Legislation to increase funding to public schools passes Parliament | Ministers' Media Centre