Upper House Inquiry Finds Victoria is Underfunding it's Students.
This is an article that was published in the City Journal on the 1/06 2026. It covers an issue of an upper house inquiry finding that the Victorian State Government is underfunding public school students.
A report was tabled in the Victorian Upper House this week into education funding in the state which found that the state government has not done enough to support education across the state.
The Inquiry chair, Liberal MLC Joe McCraken, says the inquiry found that Victorian children and their teachers are suffering due to the lack of funding.
He said that there are “Burnt-out teachers who feel unsupported, dealing with escalating severity in behaviour and increased time demands.”
“This results in worse outcomes for students.”
Education has been a difficult area for the state government recently, with the recent AEU strike meaning that tens of thousands of teachers walked off the job from in March.
While an agreement been reached in principle, the package has not yet come up for a vote to the membership, though many expect it will pass.
Similarly, the IEU is stuck in a bargaining fight with the VCEA over pay rates, and between the kind of bargaining they would negotiate under.
According to the report, the Victorian Government has not yet met its obligation to fund the 75 per cent minimum of the school resource standard, set out by the original 2011 Gonski Report.
The Allan Government has already come under fire for underfunding public schools, including a story reported last year by the Nine newspapers.
The story involved the government pulling $2.4 billion dollars out of public school education funding and delaying the meeting of the School Resource Standard until as early as 2031 or as late as 2034.
The State Government is also yet to secure a bilateral agreement with the Commonwealth Government over providing funding to meet the SRS, something the Upper House inquiry urges should be done with maximum urgency.
As the principal of Kennington Primary School said in a submission to the report, “The idea that funding can be delayed until 2031 assumes that children can wait. They cannot. Every year the support is not in place is a year of learning, development and opportunity that cannot be recovered.”
As for Mr McCracken, he hopes that the state government will make sure that funding reaches the 75% threshold.
“[they] need[s] to address the challenges with the school resourcing standard (SRS) and ensure Victoria meets its obligation to fund 75% currently, and 100% of the standard in the future.”
A representative for the AEU was asked for comment but did not respond in time for publishing.
The State Government has yet to respond to the report.
Published on 1/06/2026.