Updated September 21, 2018 11:04:54 A proposal to remove funding for schools from the State Government’s ‘No Cash’ school levy has been defeated.
Key points:A new WA Government policy aims to reduce WA’s welfare spending in schools, with more schools set to lose moneySource: News24About 25 per cent of WA schools currently receive No Cash grants, which allow families to spend as little as $20 per week on their children’s education.WA Government chief minister Andrew Barr has said he wants to reduce the welfare budget to make up for the cost of No Cash.
He said the policy was designed to address the “huge, disproportionate” welfare bill at the moment, which he said was more than $50 billion.
But Mr Barr says it was not the answer.
“We’ve made a commitment to spend $50bn in welfare over the next two years, but that’s not the best way to go about it,” he said.
“I’m not a big fan of having people say ‘no’ to us, but we are going to do it.”
The policy would reduce the WA Government’s welfare bill by $40.6 million a year, to $45.5 million.WA’s schools would lose $4.9 million in funding over the same period.
“That’s a huge amount of money, but it’s not a lot compared to the welfare bill,” Mr Barr said.
Read moreThe policy also included changes to the way schools were paid, with the Government reducing the rate of child tax benefit payments to 20 per cent from 20 per a year.
“So what we’re doing is actually increasing the rate for those schools that do receive No-Cash grants, and that will give them a greater chance of being able to invest in their schools and invest in staff, which is what we want to do,” Mr Carr said.
Mr Barr said the changes would make WA “the most educated state in the country”.
“That means we will be able to fund our schools better,” he added.
“This is really about creating more opportunity for children and their families, and the WA taxpayer is being asked to fund the state’s schools.”
Mr Barr will now wait to see how the changes play out.
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