SOS Briefing Paper - Minister for Education Disowns Budget Figures

Posted on Friday May 30, 2008

At the Budget Estimates hearings last week on education, the Minister for Education, Andrew Barr, effectively disowned the Chief Minister’s budget figures. >> Read on...

False Claims by Minister on ACT Budget

Posted on Wednesday May 21, 2008

Claims by the ACT Government that it is increasing per capita funding for government schools in 2008–09 are false and contrary to its own Budget papers. >> Read on...

Barr's divide and conquer strategy

Posted on Wednesday April 30, 2008

The real motive of ACT Education Andrew Barr in attacking the Canberra Liberals plan to reopen empty schools appears to be a more sinister attempt to repeat the divisive tactics he succesfully used in the 2006 shcool closure campaign.< >> Read on...

False Claims by Minister on ACER Report

Posted on Tuesday April 1, 2008

It is time Minister Barr stopped his ‘spin’ of false claims to distract attention from the large achievement gap between low and high SES students and got on with the job of doing something about it. < >> Read on...

Self-Congratulation on School Results Ignores Real Problems

Posted on Thursday February 7, 2008

There was an orgy of self-congratulation by the ACT Government following the publication of national school results last week. In the extravagance, some irksome realities were ignored.< >> Read on...

Barr's spin on PC 2008 Report into Government Services

Posted on Thursday February 7, 2008

The latest Productivity Commission report, the 2008 Report on Government Services, has been used by Chief Minister Jon Stanhope and Minister for Education Andrew Barr to justify their scorched earth approach to education reform >> Read on...

Proposed ACT Schools Standards Authority - Discussion Points

Posted on Wednesday February 6, 2008

The ACT Minister for Education has released a discussion paper on the establishment of an ACT Schools Standards Authority. The proposal is to expand the function of the Board of Senior Secondary Studies to be responsible for establishing and monitoring educational standards from pre-school to Year 12. >> Read on...

Media Release - ACT Greens (4 Febuary 2008)

Posted on Tuesday February 5, 2008

ACT Greens MLA Deb Foskey has said the ACT Government’s education policy is failing too many Canberra students.< >> Read on...

Schools sacrificed because Government has misled the public

Posted on Saturday December 22, 2007

Parents and children at Cook and Village Creek Primary Schools and Kambah High School, all of which closed today, have had their lives disrupted and face higher financial costs all because the ACT Government misled the public. >> Read on...

Barr loses track of his students in Towards 2020 upheaval

Posted on Monday December 3, 2007

The ACT Minister for Education and Training, has refused to provide a report on the geographic distribution of ACT students amongst government schools, leading to the conclusion that his Department does not routinely maintain its own records of student information.< >> Read on...

Economists Say Budget Surplus is Unjustified

Posted on Sunday August 19, 2007

Several well-known economists have criticised the large Budget surplus recorded by the ACT Government and have accused it of poor economic management. >> Read on...

Flynn and friends raise $50,000 and survive ‘strike out’

Posted on Saturday August 18, 2007

The Flynn Primary School Parents and Citizens Association has lodged the $50,000 required to continue its legal challenge to school closures and has survived an application to ‘strike out’ the action in the ACT Supreme Court. >> Read on...

Minister Jumps the Gun on Super-School

Posted on Wednesday August 15, 2007

The Minister for Education, Andrew Barr, jumped the gun last week by announcing the start of construction of the new super-school in West Belconnen before the ACT Government has received official approval for the project. >> Read on...

ACT Legislative Assembly Estimates Committee, 20 June – our correspondent Verity Warn reports

Posted on Friday June 22, 2007

I learned that there are people who can fill an extended period of time and not say anything of substance, while also managing to avoid answering the question. >> Read on...

Dismay from Cook P&C

Posted on Saturday June 9, 2007

The large 2007 ACT Budget surplus has confirmed that the ACT Government’s massive program of school closures is unwarranted, says Cook Primary School P&C. >> Read on...

Consultations on Future Uses of Closed School Sites

Posted on Tuesday May 22, 2007

While Save Our Schools welcomes the consultation process on the future use of closed school sites, it remains to be seen how genuine and effective the process will be, given the ACT Government’s lamentable record in community consultation. >> Read on...

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