Page 1602 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 July 2020
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The ACT government embraces cultural diversity and it is proud to host students on temporary visas from many countries in our public schools and colleges. For some of these students, humanitarian and financial hardship circumstances can make paying for education in government schools difficult. The government is committed to ensuring that every child resident in the ACT has access to school education. The proposed amendments will clarify the power of the minister to waive fees for students holding a temporary visa under humanitarian and financial hardship grounds. The amendment also ensures that students can attend school free of charge while their application for a fee waiver is being assessed.
The Education Act states in section 41(2):
The school board of a government school consists of … 3 members (the parents and citizens members) elected by the parents and citizens association of the school …
There are, however, several ACT government schools that do not have a parents and citizens association at this time and, as a result, no parent or citizen members can be elected to their respective school boards. The bill will now enable the appointment of parent and citizen representatives to government school boards where there is no active P&C association. This will ensure that parents and citizens can engage with their local school community even if there is no active P&C association.
Enabling the enforcement of attendance of non-ACT residents enrolled in all ACT schools, both government and non-government, will ensure that all children and young people, regardless of the location of their residence, are accessing an education.
Currently the Education Act does not provide a legislative mechanism for the ACT to enforce the attendance of students who are not ACT residents but are enrolled in ACT schools. It is essential to ensure that all students enrolled in our schools are attending, as the report Review into the system level responses to family violence in the ACT 2016, at page 90, states:
The Inquiry heard during consultation that a child not attending school, or moving schools frequently, can be a sign of child abuse and neglect.”
Therefore, it is essential that we have the mechanism to also follow up on the student attendance of non-ACT residents in the same way that we would for students who live in the ACT. The amendment will clarify the director-general’s ability to seek and share enrolment and attendance information with relevant interjurisdictional bodies with authoritative responsibility, such as the New South Wales Department of Education, where it is in the best interests of the child.
Privacy obligations must be managed appropriately, while also acting in the best interests of the child. For this reason, the types of information shared will be related to enrolment and attendance in order to enable supports for students to access education. This amendment follows previous legislative changes in 2018, in the interest of ensuring that information sharing provisions are sufficient, and is intended to further strengthen oversight on students fulfilling appropriate participation and enrolment
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