Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:C2024C00865:front:0:p4
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:C2024C00865
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 8599–11446

Education is the foundation of a skilled workforce and a creative community. A strong and sustainable schooling system is critical for Australia's future prosperity. A good education prepares students for full participation in society, both in employment and in civic life. Education also has a role to play in overcoming social and economic disadvantage.
  If Australia is to be a prosperous nation with a high standard of living in the 21st Century, our schooling system must provide children with the skills needed to participate fully in a knowledge‑based economy. The performance of Australia's schools, and school students, must continuously improve; our capacity to innovate, to embrace change and to seize new opportunities will depend more and more on the education and skills of our community.
  There is an ongoing and essential role for the Commonwealth in school education through its unique position to provide national policy leadership and facilitate national performance assessment and reporting. Transparency and accountability ensure public confidence in the education system and promote excellence in teaching and school leadership.
  The Commonwealth will deliver record and growing levels of investment in schools. To help education authorities provide every child with a quality education, regardless of where they live and what school they attend, this investment will be fairly and transparently distributed and allocated according to need.
  The Commonwealth's investment in a better and fairer education system, as set out in this Act, provides a pathway to full and fair funding for Australian schools. It embeds a Commonwealth funding floor for government schools in all States and the Australian Capital Territory, by specifying that the Commonwealth share for such schools must be a minimum of 20 per cent; and it enables the Commonwealth to increase this funding share where there is an agreement in place to do so. Further, the Act embeds a Commonwealth funding floor of a minimum Commonwealth share of 40 per cent for government schools in the Northern Territory from 2029. This floor applies certainty and surety to the Commonwealth's investment in government schools. It establishes a mechanism to protect the funding shares for government schools in Australia to make sure that Commonwealth funding shares cannot go backwards.
  In its role as a national policy leader, the Australian Government will work collaboratively with States and Territories to achieve agreed national objectives and priorities for schools through the First Ministers' Council and the Ministerial Council.
  To drive improvement in school outcomes, State and Territory education authorities will be required to deliver evidence‑based reforms in schools.

The Parliament of Australia enacts:

Part 1—Preliminary

Division 1—Preliminary