Archbishop Jensen welcomes call for transparency in schools funding
Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen has welcomed a move by General Synod calling for more transparency in Labor's funding policy for non-government schools.
Synod issued a call to the Labor Party to provide full details of the funding formula for private schools, and urged both parties to consult with Anglican education representatives before the policies are implemented.
Dr Jensen said the motion raised important questions for the Labor party and also for the Coalition about their funding of schools.
"I approved of it completely. We're asking them to become clearer on what they are promising and not promising," Dr Jensen said.
The Synod called on Government to reconsider its schools funding policies to bring about a better balance of social justice, transparency, choice and entitlement, and urged both sides of politics to acknowledge Anglican schools as a significant provider of education. Brisbane's Archbishop Phillip Aspinall moved the motion, which was passed unanimously.
It followed a recent statement from the Anglican and Catholic Archbishops of Sydney and Melbourne that expressed concern at Labor's "potentially divisive mechanism of redistributing funds within the non-government schools sector'.
"The so-called raid on rich schools is arbitrary," Dr Jensen said. "There are questions about why these schools were chosen and others weren't. The Labor Party's policy needs to be tested, and there are some anomalies with the Coalition's policy which could do with further work."
