My 16-year-old son Will is sitting his Year 11 exams and like any parent I hope that he has done enough study and will be as successful as he can be. When you send your child to school you hand over much of their life to other people. They are influenced by friends and teachers and they learn to master their own time and shape their destiny.
As they approach adulthood you wonder if you have done everything possible to guide your children properly. A high exam mark is not the only sign of success. Well-rounded individuals who respect others and realise the opportunities they have been given are the true sign of success. I hope all parents and students who are about to enter the “exam season” can maintain a sense of optimism and calm.
Many parents I speak to agonise over the choice of school. This is a luxury not afforded to everyone in regional areas because there may only be one or two schools in a town.
This is why school funding is so important and equity in opportunities is vital. Building the Education Revolution is the Labor Government’s economic stimulus program that has seen the erection of huge signs outside schools. While extra classrooms and libraries are important, there seems to be a fair bit of pork-barrelling involved in deciding where the money should go.
The Australian Electoral Commission has ruled that the signs for the Nation Building - Economic Stimulus Plan are in breach of the requirements of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Electoral Act). As was indicated in the media release issued by the Special Minister of State on 3 September 2009, the AEC has advised the Government that it is of the view that the present signs include “electoral matter” and the absence of the authorisation details on the signs gives rise to the breach of section 328 of the Electoral Act. Section 328 of the Electoral Act depends on the particular facts to determine whether an advertisement contains “electoral matter”. This is not a simple issue to resolve, as the scope of “electoral matter” can change over time.
The scope of the spending plan has come in for criticism for its magnitude and placement and Justine Ferrari wrote in The Australian today that a group of parents at Abbotsford Public School in Sydney’s inner west is to debate whether it will send back the $2.5 million grant because the school is being forced to known down a building of four classrooms to build a new block of four classrooms.
“P&C president Robert Vellar said the school, with about 330 students, had hoped to amend its original plans to build an extra two classrooms and refurbish another four to expand the capacity of the school, which is expecting a rise in enrolments.
The school's initial application was to build two covered outdoor learning areas, returf the oval to remove asbestos and refurbish an existing block of four classrooms.
The NSW Education Department knocked back the request, saying the BER timetable was too rigid to make changes. The school was told it had to demolish the building of four classrooms and would have enough money only to build another block of four.”
There are currently no comments, be the first to post one.