13 May 2026

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The Australian Secondary Principals' Association acknowledges the Albanese Government's 2026–27 Budget and the Minister for Education's continued work to operationalise the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement (BFSA) and to engage states, territories, and the profession on the design of a Teaching and Learning Commission.

 

ASPA notes the Government's commitment to invest $5.6 million over two years for exploratory work with states and territories on a viable pathway to establish the Commission. ASPA is constructively engaged in that work through the National Principals' Reference Group and looks forward to contributing the perspective of secondary school leaders as the design progresses. ASPA notes also the $18.2 million over four years for the Online National Assessment Platform, the continuing First Nations education programs delivered through Closing the Gap, and the extensions to a suite of established STEM partnership programs.

 

The Education Portfolio's schools reform measure projects savings of $472.1 million over four years, the substantial majority of which is drawn from tightened compliance arrangements for students with disability loading. ASPA supports integrity and transparency in the use of Commonwealth schools' funding, and

we note that the Government has provided $40.4 million to the Department of Education to administer the new compliance arrangements. New evidentiary requirements should not draw further on the capacity of teachers and school leaders, whose workloads are already a significant and well-documented pressure across the sector. Compliance reform must also not reduce loadings where students' support needs are genuine. ASPA looks forward to working with the Department on the operational design of the arrangements.

 

The Budget is more notable for what it does not yet address. The BFSA's five National Enabling Initiatives, including the review of the Schooling Resource Standard base and loadings methodology, the implementation of the Unique Student Identifier for school students, the Measurement Framework review, and the national work on socioeconomic diversity and school attendance, are conditions of Commonwealth funding to states and territories. They are also the foundational infrastructure for the BFSA reform decade. ASPA asks for clarity on how this important work will be funded, and for practitioner involvement to be built into the design from the outset.

 

The Budget does not refresh the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan envelope. The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey continues to report unsustainable workloads. Monash University research presented at ASPA's 2026 National Summit identified principals "hung out to dry" by education systems. The case for sustained national investment in school leadership capability and wellbeing is well-established, and ASPA continues to make it.

 

The deeper question raised by this Budget is whether the school chapter is sufficient to the scale of structural inequity in Australian schooling. Australia remains, on OECD measures, among the most inequitable school systems in the OECD in how resources are allocated between schools and school systems. The BFSA is the current architectural response, but its reform decade will only deliver if the enabling infrastructure, the workforce settings, school leadership capability, and the conditions in the schools that educate the largest concentrations of need are all funded in parallel. The 2026–27 Budget makes a useful start; the work to be done is substantial.

 

ASPA looks forward to continued engagement with the Minister and the Department through the National Principals' Reference Group on the implementation of the BFSA, the design of the Teaching and Learning Commission, and the next steps on workforce, wellbeing, and equity for Australia's secondary schools.

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Media Contact:
Andy Mison
Phone: 0400 202 088
Email: admin@aspa.asn.au
Web: www.aspa.asn.au
 

About ASPA: The Australian Secondary Principals' Association is the national voice and professional body representing government secondary school leaders across Australia, advocating for excellence, equity, and innovation in public education.