Real Action to Help Families Meet School Costs
26-July-2010
The Liberals will improve and expand the existing Education Tax Rebate to help families in the Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains with the costs of their children’s education and help ease pressure on family budgets, according to Federal MP Louise Markus.
An additional $760 million over the forward estimates will be committed to increasing the amount of the rebate for primary and secondary students and significantly expanding the type of expenses that can be claimed.
For primary students, we will increase the rebate to up to $500 per year per child in primary school. Eligible families will be able to claim a 50 per cent rebate for up to $1,000 of eligible education-related expenses for each child in primary school.
For secondary school students, we will increase the rebate to up to $1,000 per year per child. Eligible families will be able to claim a 50 per cent rebate for up to $2,000 of education-related expenses for each child in secondary school.
We will also expand the types of expenses to which the rebate will apply. Under the Coalition, eligible expenses will include:
- School fees
- School camps and excursions
- Special education costs for children with disabilities, like dyslexia
- Extra-curricular activities such as music, dance or drama lessons
- Tutoring costs
- Musical instruments required for lessons
- School photos
- Sporting fees and equipment
The expanded rebate will commence on 1 January 2011 which means that eligible parents will be able to claim the rebate for expenses incurred for the next school year.
Uptake of the Rudd-Gillard Government’s scheme has been poor because it is too narrowly focussed. Labor excluded school fees from the rebate, despite the fact that school fees represent a significant financial burden for parents.
Labor has also failed to properly implement their rebate, which has meant eligible parents have missed out on $1.6 billion of assistance they were originally promised over four years to 2012-13.
Labor’s recent extension of the Rebate to cover school uniform costs is welcome, but this rebate extension won’t even start until the 2011-12 financial year meaning parents will not see any money back in their pockets for at least two years. This is too little too late for families who have struggled to meet these costs for the last three years.
Labor just doesn’t get it when it comes to delivering real action and practical assistance to families battling cost of living pressures.
Australian families work hard to give their children the best possible start in life through a quality education. The Liberals will support parent’s choice about the education of their children by directly helping to ease the pressure on their family budget.
The Liberals Education Tax Rebate is real action and if elected, starts in time for the new school year.
This funding will be provided from the nearly $24 billion in recurrent savings that have been identified by the Liberals over the forward estimates. These are savings from cutting Labor’s waste and mismanagement and redirecting funding from inefficient and poorly performing Labor Government programmes.