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Education Amendment Bill 2006-amendments

DR FOSKEY: My question is to the minister for education and concerns the late amendments to the Education Amendment Bill 2006, passed on Tuesday, 12 December, which his office described as technical. Were the minister and his office aware that those amendments specifically impeded any plans of the Tharwa school community to set up the school as a campus of
a private non-government school already established in Canberra? Isn’t it deceptive to withhold such amendments until the last minute and then fail to declare their intent?

MR BARR: I thank Dr Foskey for the question and the opportunity to clear up this issue. I can state absolutely categorically that those amendments had no bearing whatsoever on Tharwa-

Mrs Dunne: That is not the answer to the question. Did you know?

MR BARR: and had absolutely no bearing at all on Tharwa. As I explained at the time, they were simply technical amendments to indicate an area within the Education Act where the act was silent in relation to the registration of additional campuses. All the amendments did was apply the same provisions-

Mrs Dunne: I think that’s a yes, Deb.

Mr Stanhope: About as silent as the Liberals on education policy. Develop any policy last night?

Mr Pratt: Part of your program to exterminate Tharwa.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Barr has the call. Cease interjecting, please.

MR BARR: All the legislation did was apply the same provisions to the registration of an additional campus-

Mrs Dunne: Making it impossible for Tharwa to do what they had already planned to do.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Dunne!

MR BARR: Additional campus that also applied to extending the year level of a non-government school or starting a new non-government school. That was all those amendments did-provide the same provisions.

Mrs Dunne: That is exactly right, but did you know that Tharwa was going to-

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Dunne, I warn you.

MR BARR: The heroic assumption that is being made by Dr Foskey and Mrs Dunne is that in some way the government was going to immediately hand over the facility of Tharwa that we are still using as a government preschool-that we were going to hand that over. That was never going to occur. That property is maintained in government ownership for the use
of the Tharwa preschool. Any conspiracy theory that the property was going to be transferred to a non-government school is just that-a conspiracy theory. It is rubbish.

The amendments to the act simply applied the same provisions to the registration of a new campus for a non-government school as applies to the extension of a year level or the establishment of a new school. There is a process-and it is a process that is supported by the Association of Independent Schools. It is a process whereby there is a registration period. It is an appropriate process and it should be gone through. I think all members would agree that not just anyone should be
able to set up a school in the ACT-that you should meet appropriate standards and that there should be an appropriate process.

Ms Gallagher: And there should be demand.

MR BARR: Indeed. As Ms Gallagher points out, there should be demand.

Ms Gallagher: They are the criteria that you used.

MR BARR: They are the criteria in the act. We apply exactly the same criteria, as I say. For those who choose not to listen, I say for the third time-

Mr Smyth: Go and talk to them. Go and talk to the Tharwa residents.

Ms Gallagher: This was the intention of the original act, which you guys supported.

MR SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Chief Minister will cease interjecting.

Mr Pratt: We would never have supported the eradication of Tharwa.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Pratt! Mr Barr has the call.

MR BARR: I will say it again. I repeat: the same provisions. If Dr Foskey and those opposite seriously believe that existing non-government schools should be able to establish multiple other campuses without any regulation-if that is what they seriously believe-let us hear them say that. Let us hear them say that to all of the non-government schools that would be affected by one or other of their competitors going out and establishing multiple campuses without any form of regulation. That is what the amendment dealt with, and I stand by it.

MR SPEAKER: Do you have a supplementary question, Dr Foskey?

DR FOSKEY: Thank you. Could the minister please provide for the Assembly all instructions and correspondence relating to the drafting of those amendments and the advice that he received from the education department as to why they might be necessary and their impact?

MR BARR: I provided that information in my speech, in the outline of why the government sought to legislate in this area. It was a clear area where the act was silent, and I said that at the time. If there was an error in what occurred, it was that members were not provided with the full detail of those amendments on the Monday. They should have been provided on the Monday; I think the information was provided on the Tuesday. I apologise-and I apologised at the time-for that delay.

From the Canberra Times :
Tharwa struck again
Michael Ruffles

THARWA residents are furious at yet another “kick in the guts” from the ACT Government with the closure of the primary school this week adding to the town’s woes.

Lifelong resident Mandy Curtis said the 2003 fires, ongoing bridge closure, and now the school’s demise led to a feeling of frustration.

“We are constantly getting kicked in the guts,” she said.

Ms Curtis now has to look for work as her role as a special needs teacher’s assistant at the Tharwa school has gone. Daughter Tori, 7, is the fifth generation of the family to have studied at the school.

The closure is another setback for the family, who lost daughter Erin, 15, to leukaemia last year.

“It’s just been one thing after another for the last four years,” she said.

The village’s unofficial mayor, Val Jeffery, said the decision to close the school came as the town struggled with the ongoing loss of its bridge, and the town’s mood only worsened as heavy smoke from the Tumut fire reminded many of the devastating 2003 bushfires.

He said the latest blow had left many feeling “very depressed”.

“It’s another complete and utter kick in the back,” he said.

“We have just copped one thing after another.”

While there has been good news with the town’s water situation being “pretty well fixed up”, the prevailing feeling with the town was one of frustration, he said.

From the Canberra Times:

New registration laws slammed Fears Tharwa plans will be thwarted
Elizabeth Bellamy

Tharwa Primary parents have accused the ACT Government of blocking their plans to open a private school on the site by rushing through new school registration laws.

The Government passed amendments to the ACT’s Education Act on Tuesday which make it tougher for private schools to open new campuses in the territory.

The amendments, passed 24 hours before the Government was due to announce its decision to shut 23 schools, require institutions seeking to open new campuses to undergo a rigorous accreditation process, which can take up to two years, in which they must prove sufficient demand for a new campus.

In a private submission to the Government and in meetings with Education Minister Andrew Barr, Tharwa parents flagged earlier this year plans to open a private school on the site if the current facility closed.

Tharwa Primary board chairman Karim Haddad said parents had been in talks with Blue Gum School, which, with waiting lists at its Hackett school, had been seeking a southside campus.

Tharwa parents had hoped to open a new school in the current school building next year, and had been fund-raising the $200,000 required to lease the building and pay for staff and other costs.

“[The Government has] worked it out to make it very difficult for us,” he said yesterday.

“They’ve waited until the 11th hour to change the law.

“They’ve closed the bridge on us … [and] if we lose our school, we lose our whole village.

“Nobody’s going to come here with young kids if there’s no school.” With 27 students in a school built for 50, the Government had argued the primary school’s small size made it too expensive to run, and that 64 per cent of students lived out of area.

Parents are now seeking legal advice to fight the changes.

Opposition spokeswoman for education Vicki Dunne and Greens MLA Deb Foskey say they were given very little time to inspect the amendments, handed to them on Tuesday morning after they were finalised on Friday.

They say the Government also failed to consult the Catholic Education Office or the Non-Government Schools Education Council, the peak body for ACT private schools, about the changes.

A spokesman for Dr Foskey said there appeared to be “no reason” why the amendments had been pushed through so quickly.

But a spokesman for the ACT Department of Education denied the changes were a response to Tharwa parents’ plans.

“[The amendments] weren’t aimed at anyone in particular,” he said.

The need for guidelines governing the expansion of private schools had been raised by the Association of Independent Schools of the ACT, in response to plans by Gungahlin’s Burgmann Anglican School to establish a new campus at Forde.

Consultation with the Catholic Education Office “could have occured, in a perfect world”, but the changes were minor.

Parents have also questioned the Government’s wisdom in retaining Tharwa Pre-school while the primary school closed.

However, the department spokesman said the Government had recognised the need to retain pre-schools to provide easy access to early education.

A spokeswoman for ACT Education Minister Andrew Barr said the department would be happy to meet with parents to discuss their concerns.

Hall Primary will also shut at the end of the year, while its pre-school will remain open. However, the Canberra Pre-school Society said yesterday communities should take the initiative to transform the pre-schools into early childhood community schools, expanding their year range to Year 2.

“The communities have before them a fantastic vision, even if the Stanhope Government cannot see it,” society president Carolyn Harkness said. “The parents in these communities do, as does the Canberra Pre-school Society.”

From the Daily Telegraph

WHEN six-year-old Gus Haddad learned Jon Stanhope would close Tharwa Primary School next week, he was devastated and turned to his dad, asking what they could do.

His faith in the public education system shot to bits, Karim Haddad refused to send his children to another school - and suggested they open their own.

Mr Haddad, 36, began setting up meetings with the ACT Government to try and start a new school.

Tharwa Primary was one of 23 schools Mr Stanhope announced would close before the end of the decade in an effort to plug the widening budget black hole by saving $23 million.

Established in 1899, the little country school - which takes preschoolers to Year 6 students - has only 25 enrolments this year.

The small size contributed to the school closing, with the Government saying it could not afford to keep schools like Tharwa open.

Tharwa, on Canberra’s outskirts, is slowly being ostracised from civilisation as the bridge into town was closed and now the school is getting the axe.

But with the help of sponsorship dollars from local clubs, Mr Haddad wants to rent Tharwa Primary and go into partnership with independent school Blue Gum to build Tharwa Community School.

A spokeswoman for Education Minister Andrew Barr said yesterday Mr Haddad would first have to get Department of Education accreditation to open a school.

As a final point of order in the minutes of the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly for 12th December, the day before the announcement on school closures was made, amendments were made to the Education Act with respect to campus of non-government school. New sections 88A and 88B have many new provisions, including a new requirement to provide 60 days notice to establish a new campus of an existing non-government school. Prior to the 12th December 2006 when these amendments were passed there were no provisions in the Education Act for the establishment of new campuses of existing, operational non-government schools.

The new amendments appear to be directed specifically at members of the Tharwa community’s proposal that was raised with the Education Department during the consultation period and given ‘in principle support’. As part of the consultation on strategies to keep schooling in Tharwa, along with many viable suggestions for maintaining the school under the public education system, we investigated and transparently discussed with the ACT DET establishing and developing a south Canberra campus of Blue Gum independent school. Blue Gum independent school see the long term attractiveness and viability of the historic Tharwa school site and are prepared to work with the Tharwa community to maintain the educational site in Tharwa and provide an alternative to government education in south Canberra.

It seems the consultation process for the government has concluded with introduction of legislation to throw as many hurdles as possible in front of anyone who won’t submit and send their child to a large, concrete, suburban government school.

Some extracts from the new amendments:

(1A) In deciding whether to give in-principle approval for the
registration of a school at an additional campus, the Minister
must have regard to—
(a) whether the provision of the additional campus by the
school would undermine the viability of other existing
schools; and
(b) the demand for the additional campus, including the level
of registration of interest shown by the community for the
proposed provision of the additional campus by the school.
…
Application for registration at additional campus
(1) This section applies if—
(a) a proprietor of a registered non-government school has
in-principle approval under section 84 (Deciding
in-principle applications) to apply for registration of the
school at a stated additional campus; and
(b) the proprietor has given the registrar written notice of the
proprietor’s intention to apply at least the prescribed period
before the first day of the school year or term when it is
proposed to begin operating the school at the additional
campus; and
(c) the in-principle approval has not lapsed.
(2) The proprietor of the school may apply in writing to the
Minister for registration of the school at the additional campus.
(3) The chief executive must publish notice of the making of the
application in a daily newspaper printed and published in the
ACT.
(4) The notice must state that written comments on the proposed
registration may be made to the Minister within a stated period
of at least 60 days after the day the notice is published.
(5) The chief executive must make a copy of the application
available for inspection by members of the public at the chief
executive’s office during ordinary business hours.
…
7) The criteria for registration of a school at an additional campus
are that—
(a) the school will have appropriate policies, facilities and
equipment for—
(i) the curriculum to be offered by the school at the
additional campus; and
(ii) the safety and welfare of its students at the additional
campus; and
(b) the curriculum (including the framework of the curriculum
and the principles on which the curriculum is based) meets
the curriculum requirements for students attending
government schools; and
(c) the nature and content of the education to be offered at the
school will be appropriate for the additional campus; and
(d) the teaching staff will be qualified to teach at the additional
campus; and
(e) the school will have satisfactory processes to monitor
quality educational outcomes at the additional campus; and
(f) the school will be financially viable.