The federal government has been criticised over a “private school cash splash” announced this week. 

The latest budget announcement includes an increase in the size of the Capital Grants Program; a Commonwealth capital works fund exclusively available to private schools.

Critics say the budget update will see the private school sector receive an even greater share of Commonwealth funding under Labor than it would have under the previous Coalition government.

Greens spokesperson on schools, Queensland Senator Penny Allman-Payne, is moving a  disallowance motion to block some of the changes. 

She says the current government is continuing the trajectory of its predecessor. 

“As a proportion of total funding, private school funding is actually growing, moving public schools even further away from reaching 100 per cent of the minimum Schooling Resource Standard,” Senator Allman-Payne said. 

“Labor had an opportunity to undo a decade of conservative damage to the education system by winding back government support for the private sector and investing in the public system. Instead we got the kind of budget you’d expect from Scott Morrison.”

She says her party will push to ensure that all public schools receive at least 100 per cent of their Schooling Resource Standard in upcoming negotiations on the next National Schools Reform Agreement. 

The federal budget also allocates funding for 180,000 fee-free TAFE and vocational education places, announced during the recent Jobs and Skills Summit. 

These places will be allocated with a view to equality of gender in particular, and be focused on areas of critical skill shortage including early childhood, aged care, health and disability, digital skills, hospitality and tourism, construction, agriculture, manufacturing and defence.

Additionally, out of 20,000 new university places to be funded in the federal budget, 4,036 places would go to teacher education courses, including 1,469 for early childhood education.