2023/2024 Budget submission

The 2023-24 Budget must include an education reform package that fully funds the following measures to support the proper implementation of the new Australian Curriculum V 9.0.

1.  Establish a literacy taskforce headed by a Chief Literacy Officer (with extensive knowledge of literacy instruction informed by the science of reading and learning) overseeing a team of literacy coaches to provide training for teachers in the explicit and systematic instruction of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

2.  Mandate a universal Year 1 phonics screening check, with relief time for teachers to conduct the checks, analyse the results and implement appropriate targeted support for students.

3.  Provide decodable readers for students in Kindergarten and Year 1.

This reform package should only require modest funding with a one-off procurement of around $500,000 for decodable readers and annual funding of around $1.5 million for the remainder of the measures (based on Budget measures implemented by South Australia and New South Wales).