The initial decision to roll bilingual education funding into the Student Needs-Based Funding Formula (SNBFF) caused significant concern for the schools currently running these valuable programs. Bilingual education requires specialised resources, staffing, and professional development, which cannot easily be sustained under the current loadings of the SNBFF.
The Department of Education and Training (DET) has now acknowledged that the decision was made without sufficient consultation with schools, communities, and stakeholders. As a result, targeted funding will remain in place for 2025, allowing time to conduct this consultation.
The AEU NT will participate actively in these consultations to ensure the voices of members and communities are heard and that any future funding model supports the sustainability of bilingual programs.
If you are interested in contributing to this critical work or have feedback on how bilingual funding affects your school, please get in touch with us.
We acknowledge that this was just one of many problems raised by members around 2025 School Budget reform. We are still advocating on a number of other issues such as centralised costs being pushed back to schools, preschool funding and the limitations of current infrastructure and housing.