1999

THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

STATES GRANTS (PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSISTANCE) AMENDMENT BILL 1999

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs, 
the Hon Dr David Kemp MP)

ISBN:  0642 405387

STATES GRANTS (PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSISTANCE) AMENDMENT BILL 1999

OUTLINE

The Bill amends the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 1996 (the Act) to give effect to initiatives announced in the 1999-2000 Budget:

•	$36.3 million for 2000 to increase funding under the Literacy and Numeracy Programme to help schools measurably improve the literacy and numeracy skills of students in the early and middle years of schooling for 2000.  This funding will be allocated for two initiatives: 
	Support for the National Literacy and Numeracy Plan; and 
	Strategies to improve literacy and numeracy in the middle years of schooling.

•	$26.4 million for 2000 to extend funding for the National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools (NALSAS) strategy for 2000.

The Bill also contains provisions which:

•	provide an additional $10.1 million for each of the programme years 2000 up to, and including, 2003 for the non-government component of the Capital Grants Programme to maintain funding at the same real level as for the period 1997 to 1999;

•	provide an additional $1.9 million for Short Term Emergency Assistance (STEA) for 2000 to allow schools experiencing severe financial hardship or facing problems of viability to apply for STEA during the transitional period to the new SES funding model for 
non-government schools; and

•	make a minor technical amendment to the headings in the Act to change the name of the Literacy Programme to the Literacy and Numeracy Programme.

FINANCIAL IMPACT

Total grant levels for schools for the 2000 programme year are estimated to be close to 
$4.6 billion.  Funds appropriated for the 2000 programme year are estimated to be some 
$3.8 billion for general recurrent grants to government and non-government schools, $314 million for capital grants to government and non-government schools, and $454 million for targeted programmes.

STATES GRANTS (PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSISTANCE) AMENDMENT BILL 1999

NOTES ON CLAUSES

Clause 1 - Short Title

Clause 1 provides for this Act to be cited as the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Amendment Act 1999.

Clause 2 - Commencement

Clause 2 provides for this Act to commence on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

Clause 3 - Schedule(s)

Clause 3 provides that each Act that is specified in a Schedule is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule.

AMENDMENT OF THE STATES GRANTS (PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSISTANCE) ACT 1996

SCHEDULE 1

Item 1 –Part 7 

Amends the heading to this Part by adding “numeracy” to the heading for the grants program - now entitled “Grants to foster literacy and numeracy”.

SCHEDULE 4
Item 2-5

Updates the funding amounts set out in column 2 of the table in Schedule 4 (“Capital Grants for Non-government schools”) for the program years 2000 to 2003.

SCHEDULE 5
Item 6

Updates the funding amount set out in column 4 of the table in Schedule 5 (“Grants of short-term emergency assistance for non-government schools”) for the program year 2000.

SCHEDULE 6
Items 7-8

Amends the heading to Schedule 6 and the heading to the table by adding “numeracy”.  These amendments reflect a change in the grants program - now entitled “Grants to foster literacy and numeracy”.

Items 9-11

Updates the funding amounts set out in columns 2 (Grants to foster literacy and numeracy in government schools), column 3 (Grants to foster literacy and numeracy in non-government schools) and column 4 (Grants for national projects to foster literacy and numeracy in schools) of the table in Schedule 6 dealing with program year 2000.  

SCHEDULE 7

Item 12

Updates the funding amount set out in column 4 of the table in Schedule 7 (Grants under the Languages Program) dealing with program year 2000.