The National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) today welcomed announcements by Labor’s shadow education minister Tanya Plibersek to boost funding for students with a disability, create a National Principals’ Academy, review NAPLAN and ensure funding support for all school sectors.

In her National Press Club address, Ms Plibersek said a Labor government would increase funding for students with a disability by $300 million over three years. She also reiterated Labor’s proposals to establish an Evidence Institute for Schools and provide bursaries for students who wanted to become teachers.

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Analysis of school funding data reported by the ABC today gives a false impression that government schools attract less public funding than non-government schools.

“Comparing schools with similar socio-economic characteristics using ‘per-student’ funding data is fraught with problems because it ignores variables such as school size and teacher salaries,” NCEC Acting Executive Director Ray Collins said.

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Families who choose a non-government schooling option will continue to be supported after the Federal Government today announced important changes to its school funding arrangements, the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) said. 

The NCEC fully supports the package of measures unveiled today. 

“The 2017 model created unintended consequences that threatened the future of low-fee, faith-based schools in remote and higher SES areas,” Acting Executive Director Ray Collins said. 

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The Acting Executive Director of the National Catholic Education Commission, Ray Collins, today congratulated Dan Tehan on his appointment as Federal Minister for Education.

“We look forward to working with Mr Tehan to resolve the many outstanding funding issues affecting our sector,” Mr Collins said.

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The National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) has welcomed the delivery of the final report of the Review of the Socio-Economic Status (SES) Score Methodology to the Australian Government today, but said, “now the hard work begins to achieve a fair and equitable school funding model”.

Acting executive director Ray Collins said the highly anticipated report, delivered by the National School Resourcing Board (NSRB), endorses the Catholic sector’s long-held position that the current methodology for measuring a school’s SES is flawed.

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The National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) welcomes the passage of new laws through the Australian Parliament to ensure educational bodies are protected from online copyright infringements by their staff and students.

NCEC acting executive director Ray Collins said the Copyright Amendment (Services Providers) Act 2018 would extend protections, known as ‘safe harbours’, to schools, universities and other educational bodies who provide internet access, removing the threat of penalties if staff or students illegally downloaded copyrighted material such as films and music.

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The National Catholic Education Commission welcomes the commitment by the Labor Party in last night’s Federal Budget reply to restore the level of funding for schools originally proposed by the Gillard Labor Government.

The NCEC’s acting executive director Ray Collins said the changes to school funding introduced by the Turnbull government are having a serious impact on more than 500 Catholic schools across Australia.

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Catholic school communities expecting significant initiatives addressing the concerns raised with the Federal Minister for Education Simon Birmingham and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would be disappointed with last night’s budget.

Whilst Senator Birmingham has promised the government will respond to the Independent Report of the Review into the Socio-economic Status Score methodology from the National School Resourcing Board later this year, there is little in the budget that details how the government will address this, and the other “landmark” reviews the government has received this year.

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The National Catholic Education Commission welcomes the report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools, Through Growth to Achievement, released by the Australian Government today.

The NCEC’s acting executive director Ray Collins says, while there is a need to look at the report in further detail, the wide-ranging report appears consistent with the submissions lodged by Catholic education entities, takes into account current educational research and thinking, and responds to the key challenges being faced by Australian schools and systems.

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Hints of a “Santa Claus” budget from Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison will have education authorities from across all sectors hopeful that fresh funds will be allocated to the nation’s schools to tackle the shortcomings in the current arrangements announced by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Education Minister Simon Birmingham less than 12 months ago.

Acting executive director of the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC), Ray Collins, said members of Australia’s more than 1700 Catholic school communities will be “closely watching next month’s budget to see whether the Turnbull government is serious about tackling their concerns over allocation of funds, and fair and accurate measures of parental ‘capacity to contribute’ in the Gonski 2.0 funding model”.

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The National Catholic Education Commission welcomes the report of the Independent review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education undertaken by Dr John Halsey, Emeritus Professor, Flinders University.

The NCEC’s acting executive director Ray Collins said the report took into account the views of key stakeholders including submissions from the Catholic sector.

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The National Catholic Education Commission has published a resource to support the teaching of religious education in Catholic Schools in response to the changing social, church and educational landscapes.

Endorsed by the Bishops Commission for Catholic Education and prepared by Catholic educators across the country, the Framing Paper: Religious Education in Australian Catholic Schools, aims to support individual dioceses to reflect on and evaluate their religious education curriculum and teaching practice.

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The National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) seeks to clarify its position in light of the recent coverage regarding Catholic sector funding.

The acting executive director Ray Collins said the NCEC has stressed repeatedly that school funding is a matter of concern for all schools, not just Catholic schools.

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The National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) welcomes the Australian Labor Party’s declaration of support for open, accessible, faith-based education as a fundamental part of its policy platform in the lead up to the next federal election.

Acting Executive Director of the NCEC, Mr Ray Collins particularly welcomed Labor’s commitment to ensuring that the right of parents to choose the type of education their children receive is supported by governments.

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