Busting another political myth
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Scare campaigns.
Both major parties run them, and a lot of the time voters fall for them.
Every election campaign the Labor Party trots out one tried and true chestnut-funding for public schools was slashed under the Liberal-National Government.
Labor's education spokesperson Tanya Plibersek, has repeated the claim this election was a choice between Labor's investment in public schools "or the LNP's $14 billion of cuts."
Parkes MP Mark Coulton says he is eternally frustrated by that claim.
"It comes out every election," he said.
"I get frustrated that the myth is perpetuated, it's not true and it disappoints me that it gets a run every election."
"Despite what Labor would have you believe, there are no cuts to school funding under the Liberal-Nationals Government. We have increased funding for government schools and there's record funding for all 110 government schools in the Parkes electorate. Over the next decade, funding will increase by around 52 per cent per government school student in my electorate. The only government to cut funding to schools in the last ten years was Labor in 2012/13.
"Our Government is providing record recurrent funding of $310 billion to state schools, to Catholic schools and Independent schools from 2018 to 2029 - New South Wales schools will get $96 billion."
The fact is public school funding has grown each year under the Coalition Government and over the forward estimates is projected to continue that way.
Labor's claim alludes to the difference between what the LNP and Labor plan to spend up to 2027.
Projected funding growth is smaller under the Coalition, but that's not a cut.
Comparing future spending promises do not demonstrate spending cuts and voters should not be fooled into believing they are.
Also, less of an increase in spending does not equal a decrease.
"A saving is a cut, is a saving, is a cut. When the government describes changes to education funding as a saving, they are saying that they have cut school funding," Ms Plibersek said on the ABCs Insiders.
However, Federal spending on public schools increased above inflation in each of the Coalition's first three years - 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 according to the Productivity Commission's 2019 report on government services.
Myth Busted.