The news announced today of a NSW Government plan to put up $50 million to fund so-called Business Managers in schools is an acknowledgement that the policy called ‘Local Schools, Local Decisions’ has resulted in the loss of hundreds of administrative and support positions and created an unnecessary burden on schools, Federation President Maurie Mulheron said earlier today.
“Under the devolutionary ‘Local Schools, Local Decisions’ policy, the department have slashed support staff that service all schools and
instead dumped all that clerical and administrative work onto schools and teachers,” Mr Mulheron said, “and now their solution is to provide a limited bucket of money for more ‘local solutions’ to the problem they have created, rather than rebuild the capacity of the system.”
“The amount announced today works out to about $22,000 per school, barely enough to fund one day per week of additional clerical support,” Mr Mulheron said.
Federation has long expressed concerns over the ‘Local Schools, Local Decisions’ policy, under which the department made significant cuts to non-school based administrative staff, advisers, and curriculum specialists.