ustine Ferrari, The Australian, 9 Sep 2010

RURAL schools will get the first bite of spending on education initiatives under the minority Gillard government, with one-third of funding quarantined to be spent in the bush.

Rural education experts yesterday warned against simply rolling out the same programs across the nation, saying measures that work in the big cities will not necessarily be effective in small communities.

In its agreement with the two rural independents, Labor reprioritised spending of two key policies announced during the election campaign, allocating about a third of the money to paying rewards to schools and for school autonomy in regional Australia.

The agreement notes that one of out of every three Australians lives in a regional community, appearing to justify the allocation.

Education Minister Simon Crean yesterday confirmed similar arrangements would apply to specific education programs, rather than base school funding.

”As the agreement document states, under a Labor minority government, regional Australia will be the first to receive funding for key education initiatives and the funding will be distributed proportionally,” he said.

http://www.austparents.edu.au/rural-students-to-benefit-from-federal-schooling-agreement

ustine Ferrari, The Australian, 9 Sep 2010

RURAL schools will get the first bite of spending on education initiatives under the minority Gillard government, with one-third of funding quarantined to be spent in the bush.

Rural education experts yesterday warned against simply rolling out the same programs across the nation, saying measures that work in the big cities will not necessarily be effective in small communities.

In its agreement with the two rural independents, Labor reprioritised spending of two key policies announced during the election campaign, allocating about a third of the money to paying rewards to schools and for school autonomy in regional Australia.

The agreement notes that one of out of every three Australians lives in a regional community, appearing to justify the allocation.

Education Minister Simon Crean yesterday confirmed similar arrangements would apply to specific education programs, rather than base school funding.

”As the agreement document states, under a Labor minority government, regional Australia will be the first to receive funding for key education initiatives and the funding will be distributed proportionally,” he said.

http://www.austparents.edu.au/rural-students-to-benefit-from-federal-schooling-agreement