Barr tables alternate suspension bill

ACT Education Minister Andrew Barr has tabled the Government’s version of proposed new laws to give principals more power to suspend students.

The Government wants principals to be able to suspend students for up to 10 days without referring to the Education Department or Catholic Education Office.

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First day brings plenty of surprises

The first of an estimated 39,000 new students began flooding the halls of the ACT’s schools yesterday as Canberra-region students, their families and teachers welcomed the start of the 2010 academic year.

More than 60,000 students will start or return to the ACT’s government and non-government schools this week.

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Schools get first look at report cards

School principals around Australia will get to preview their national report cards this morning for the first time, one day before the information is posted publicly on the Government’s My School website.

While much of the information will already be familiar to schools, principals will be able to log on to the site and see how their school compares not only with the national average but also to a group of 60 statistically similar schools under a newly developed Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage.

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Funding boost for private schools

By 2013, private schools will have received $47 billion in Commonwealth funding for computers, new buildings and general running costs, compared with $35 billion for government schools.

This is despite government schools educating two-thirds of Australian students.

A new funding analysis of Federal Government education spending between 2009 and 2013 by education academic and former senior education bureaucrat Jim McMorrow shows the Rudd Government will oversee historic increases to private school funding.

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