In a deepening cost of living crisis, more and more families are being hit hard by out-of-pocket school expenses.

Persistent underfunding of the public school system is penalising teachers, parents and carers and wrecking the futures of millions of students.

Only 1.3% of public schools receive the minimum funding they need from governments. Meanwhile, governments are overfunding 98% of private schools.

Governments have a responsibility to provide high quality comprehensive public education for everyone across pre-school and early childhood education, schools and TAFE, and Universities. Whether you live in remote areas, rural and regional communities, are in prison, or studying online through distance education – public education is for everyone. 

My party’s policies on education are written by teachers through the lens of the universal value and benefit to society of well-resourced public education. 

We have a plan to deliver what is needed to respect, recruit, resource, and retain teachers in public education, and to grow the greatest wealth we have – free and secular access to public education. The Greens want schools and universities to get the resourcing needed to meet all students’ needs, teachers will get the pay and conditions they deserve, and teachers and students to take their rightful place at the heart of all policy decisions.

Every child in every part of the state deserves access to world class public education no matter their background or life circumstance. Public schools are the heart of every community and teaching and learning must be supported at every level of need from students and families, across teaching and non-teaching positions in schools, and in the resources and infrastructure that supports 21^st century education. The Liberals and Nationals have driven our public education system into the ground through chronic underfunding, and the devaluing of the teaching profession.

Thanks will not fix the teacher shortage, but improving pay and conditions will. Student learning is being disrupted and hindered by the belligerence of governments who have no workforce plan to attract and retain teachers in the profession. Some of our public schools are receiving half the funding that private schools are given, and the neo-liberal agenda is harming our most vulnerable young people – students living with disabilities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth, children from non-English speaking backgrounds, and LGBTIQ+ students.

We have a plan to scrap the public sector wage cap and give teachers a 15% pay rise plus inflation per the Gallop Report, fund all schools at 100% of the School Resourcing Standard, and develop a workforce plan to attract the 12,000 teachers needed over the next decade. We want to return students, teachers, and their unions to the centre of all policy and curriculum decisions.

The Greens are advocating to: 

• Immediately give all NSW public school teachers a minimum 15% pay rise plus an assessment of inflation over the next 2 years
• Provide an increase in 2 hours per week of Relief from Face to Face (RFF) teaching for all public-school primary teachers in NSW and 2 hours less face-to-face teaching for all High School teachers
• Deliver 100% of the School Resourcing Standard across NSW
• Develop a workforce plan in consultation with teachers, Universities, and the NSW Teachers Federation to recruit and retain 12,000 new teachers over the next 10 years
• Remove any demountable classroom that has been in operation for more than 3 years and invest $1 Billion to address the school maintenance backlog by 2026
• Provide at least 1 additional school councillor for every public school in NSW over the next 4 years and reach a target of 1 counsellor per 500 students by 2030.
• Provide additional resourcing and funds for free public school breakfasts and lunches and to cover all excursions and other individual student costs.