Government Schools in Bonner to Share in $70 Million

Government schools in Bonner will benefit from the Australian Government’s $70 million Independent Public Schools (IPS) initiative, designed to strengthen the capacity of school communities to make better decisions for students.

Member for Bonner, Ross Vasta, said Australian Government funding will flow to local schools as a result of an agreement between the Minister for Education, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, and the Queensland Minister for Education, Training and Employment, the Hon John-Paul Langbroek MP.

“This is great news for our local community,” Mr Vasta said.

“No one is better placed to make decisions about how a school should be run than the principal, teachers and parents at that school.”

“This funding will expand Queensland’s Independent Public Schools initiative, and provide professional development to support local school leaders in making better decisions.”

Under this initiative, Queensland will receive $12.88 million from the Australian Government between 2014 and 2017 to enable an additional 130 government schools to become Independent Public Schools.

“This is over and above the state’s current program, and will directly benefit school principals, leadership teams and school communities in Bonner,” Mr Vasta said.

“The funding means the good work already happening in local schools can be expanded to provide more parents in our community with more choice.”

The funding will also assist with the development and delivery of three professional development programmes, and an online system to help schools better manage their budgets.

Mr Vasta said the IPS initiative is part of the Government’s Students First approach, which focuses on four key areas – teacher quality, school autonomy, parental engagement, and strengthening the curriculum – that will allow local schools to better meet the needs of students.

 For further information, visit www.studentsfirst.gov.au.