Anything but ‘the education state’: Vic teachers rally for better funding deal

Addressing a large rally outside the office of Education Minister Ben Carroll in Melbourne’s north, branch secretary Justin Mullaly told the crowd that while the Government likes to call Victoria ‘the education state’, and to beat the Victoria drum, its actions are resulting in effectively the opposite.

“When it’s the case that Victorian public schools are the lowest funded in the country, that Victorian public school teachers are the lowest paid in the country, that our school leaders and our ES (Education Support) are undervalued as well – there is no hope that this government can call this place the education state,” Mullaly said.

“We’re here to send a pretty simple message to the premier, to the deputy premier, to the Minister of Education and to the Treasurer – fix your funding mess, now!”

The AEU Victorian branch has written to all of the state’s public school teachers outlining their campaign plans for better funding, including asking parents to join in mass emails to Allan and Carroll, as well as public rallies.

The Government signed an agreement with the Federal Government in January that declared it would secure 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) for Victorian government schools by 2034.

“When you’re the lowest funded in the country, the lowest paid,  not valued and respected, the very least that we can do is come out and tell people like Ben Carroll to get off their a***s and actually do something for our public schools,” AEU Victoria branch secretary Justin Mullaly told the rally.

“Our priority is – and has always been – that every child, no matter where they live, has access to a world-class education for free in a Victorian government school backed by full and fair funding,” Carroll said at the time.

He said the State Government would provide 75 per cent of the SRS, which would see increased funding in stages during the term of the agreement.

Last month’s State Government Budget 2025-26, however, revealed a delay in the state’s commitment to fully fund public schools until 2031, and in the process, the AEU said, strip $2.4 billion out of the sector. 

The move, the AEU said, underscored the widening gap in teacher pay and staffing levels between Victoria and other states.

New South Wales will meet its Gonski Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) commitments this year, Western Australia in 2026 and Queensland in 2028.

“The premier and the Prime Minister got up in January and signed a funding deal, and it’s a good funding deal, at least in name, that they said would deliver 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard to our workplaces, to our schools, to you and our school communities,” Mullaly told the rally in Niddrie yesterday.

“What they didn’t tell us was that in April last year, they actually had already made a decision to not do that. They made a decision to delay any additional funding through to 2031.

A secondary school maths teacher at the rally said education in the state is struggling at present, with teacher shortages and a lack of funding, and a government that refuses to commit to full funding of government schools. “It's outrageous,” he said.

“… on my reckoning, that’s about five years that it will take to see any additional funding. It’s five years too long. And what are we gonna do? 

“We’re gunna fight for it,” rally attendees roared.

“We’re absolutely gunna fight for it!” Mullaly replied to raucous applause.

The Greens have called on federal Labor to apply pressure to the Allan Government over the so-called cuts to public school funding. 

Greens spokesperson for Primary and Secondary Education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne said in a statement yesterday that Victorian Labor currently underfunds public schools by more than $650 million per year, and by pushing back their plans to increase funding to 2031, Victorian public schools stand to lose billions when compared to full funding from 2026. 

“I think public school parents and teachers will be shocked at how much is being ripped out of their school, and particularly shocked at the fact Labor won’t come clean,” Allman-Payne said. 

“Labor is in power in both Canberra and Victoria, it’s about time the Federal Government sought some public assurances from their Victorian counterparts that public schools won’t face cuts.”

Victorian Greens spokesperson for Schools and Member for Brunswick, Tim Read, said Labor’s “secret funding cut” is a blow to Victoria’s teachers, who are leaving the profession in record numbers.

“While every other state and territory is busy investing more into their students’ education and futures, Victorian students - who already receive less per student in state and Commonwealth funding than all other states and territories - are being left behind.

“It’s not good enough for Labor to pretend they can’t afford to fund our schools, while at the same time they’re proudly giving billions to prisons and luxury corporate boxes at the Grand Prix.”

Mullaly said while members of the Government in the upper house were particularly keen to “spruik their wares”, and talk about how they’ve saved TAFE, respected Kindergarten teachers and educators, and invested in schools’ infrastructure, “they’re keen to avoid the inconvenient truth of the problem of funding and public education, and that is that they’ve made an active decision not to fund our public schools”. 

“When you’re the lowest funded in the country, when you’re the lowest paid in the country, when you’re not valued and respected, the very least that we can do is come out and tell people like Ben Carroll to get off their a***s and actually do something for our public schools,” Mullay said.

He said the next rally will be held within the next fortnight outside Premier Jacinta Allan’s Bendigo office.