Victorian public schools to be fully funded — but only by 2034

The basketball court at Pembroke Primary School has not seen a game in two years.

The court is full of potholes, and parent James Dunn said the school in Melbourne's outer east cannot afford to fix them.

"When you've got 90 kids running around and you've got half your playground fenced off, it's pretty frustrating," said Mr Dunn, who has been treasurer on the school council for three years.

Pembroke students were missing out altogether on school camps and extracurricular activities because the school was "running on a shoestring", Mr Dunn said.

Yesterday Victorian Premier Ben Carroll announced his government had finally signed off on a promised deal with the federal government on school funding.

Victoria currently only pays 70 per cent of the agreed School Resource Standard, recommended by the Gonski review in 2012, while the federal government contributes 20 per cent.

Mr Carroll confirmed Victoria will lift its contribution to 75 per cent after a move signed off by state cabinet this week, calling it the "biggest investment in schools ever" by the Victorian government.

However, state schools will not receive 100 per cent of the school resourcing standard until 2034.

Mr Dunn said that the deal had only been made a month out from the state election, after Labor had run Victoria for 12 years, was disappointing.

"It feels like the kids are now a political football," he said, expressing frustration over the prolonged timeline for full funding.

Principals, union cautiously welcome deal

The Australian Principals Federation welcomed the deal but said the proposed timeline meant full funding remained years away.

"The challenges facing our schools are immediate," said Victorian branch president Andrew Cock.

"It is essential that meaningful funding increases are delivered progressively, rather than schools having to wait until the end of this period to see the benefits," he said.

Australian Education Union Victorian Branch president Justin Mullaly said while the announcement was welcome and provided greater certainty, there was devil in the detail.

"Victorian public schools will not receive some of the additional funding as soon as other states and territories," he said.

"The delay in signing and the decision to back-end the deal, will short change Victorian public schools by hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few years.

Mr Carroll said: "If we can bring forward the timeline and meet the 75 per cent earlier, we will."

Voluntary contributions policy remains a sore point

Prior to yesterday's announcement, tensions had already been growing over parent contributions to keep state schools functioning adequately.

Last month, Victoria's Department of Education instructed schools to tell parents that all curriculum-based instruction and resources, including textbooks, are free and that there was no obligation to pay for school contributions.

Schools can ask for contributions for extra-curricular activities like camps and excursions or learning materials to keep.

Education Minister Gabrielle Williams defended the guidance, telling the ABC it was "updated to make it absolutely clear that school contributions are voluntary".

Kim, a librarian at a Melbourne public high school not given permission to speak publicly, said her school would cover items for lower income students, but could not afford "extras" like school camps.

"Our school is 'free' but it's falling apart, any couches are from hard rubbish and the roof is leaking," she said.

"School is free, but with 12-year-old science textbooks … free with old humanities textbooks with no covers.

"It's not a recipe for a winning education offering."

Australian Catholic University researcher Sarah Langman has analysed how voluntary parent payments were characterised in annual reports from 1500 Victorian public schools in 2024.

She said parent contributions were important for "a wide range of things, everything from school libraries to first aid offices to general programs, excursions and camps".

Ms Langman predicted the new Education Department advice would make budgets tighter.

"We would expect that this problem is probably going to become a lot more widespread as these policy restrictions come into place," she said.

"The real question we want people to consider is whether access to educational opportunities should depend on schools' ability to attract voluntary contributions."

Parents Victoria chief executive Gail McHardy said payments should not feel like a "moral obligation or source of pressure" for families struggling with the cost of living.

"School leaders and school councils should not be made to feel responsible for passing government funding shortfalls on to parents," Ms McHardy said.

Back at Pembroke primary, Mr Dunn was lukewarm on the Gonski funding announcement and whether it would be enough to repair his school's aging facilities.

"We'll see. Politicians aren't at the top of my trust list," he said.