The Minns Labor Government is delivering on its commitment to improve essential services by fully and fairly funding public schools while delivering targeted reforms aimed at lifting student outcomes across NSW public schools.
In 2025, the NSW Government’s annual investment in every public-school student will be more than $17,000 — an increase of $2,203 per student compared to the former Liberal-National Government’s 2023 commitment.
This is a total investment of $13.1 billion by the NSW Government in the 2025 calendar year.
This follows the State and Federal Labor Governments signing a historic 10-year funding deal earlier this year that will see the Federal Government fund 25 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) by 2034 through an additional $4.8 billion 10-year commitment, ensuring that public schools are fully funded.
The remaining 75 per cent of SRS required to fully fund NSW public schools has already been delivered by the Minns Labor Government two years ahead of schedule through a total additional $5.6 billion investment over 10 years.
This is the largest funding commitment to public school students in NSW history, ensuring every child has access to free public education and the opportunity to reach their full potential, regardless of where they live.
In contrast, under the former State and Federal Liberal Governments, funding was capped at 95 per cent while driving up teacher vacancies to record levels of 3,300 vacancies.
This increased funding is being directed to expand critical early intervention programs, including:
Small Group Tuition Program
The Minns Labor Government is boosting the government’s small group tutoring program to $80 million, a $27 million increase on last year. This will help lift literacy and numeracy outcomes for our students.
This additional funding means the program is now available to nearly 60,000 students with an increase in the support available for students from 10 weeks of tutoring to 15 weeks.
This program provides targeted literacy and numeracy support in small groups (of two to five students).
It will introduce an assessment for students before and after the program to measure how much they’ve improved.
University teaching students will also be able to provide hands-on classroom experience as tutors — supporting student outcomes and strengthening the future teaching workforce.
The Australian Government Productivity Commission’s report on school funding identified that small-group tuition can improve learning outcomes in reading by up to 4 months, and mathematics outcomes by up to 3 months.
Year 1 Phonics Support Program
All Year 1 students currently take a short phonics test to help identify how strong their key early reading skills are. The check helps teachers quickly spot students who need extra help and provide them with support.
The Minns Labor Government is supporting this work with more classroom resources and targeted support with 144 schools participating this year in a focused support program, providing extra training, tools and leadership support to lift phonics outcomes.
Year 1 Number Screening Check
The Minns Labor Government is trialling a new check across 165 public schools to assess Year 1 students’ early numeracy skills.
This is helping over 7,000 Year 1 students to identify gaps in key numeracy skills — including counting, ordering, and basic operations — giving teachers immediate insights to deliver tailored support.
The check is part of the government’s plan to lift student outcomes after years of decline in NAPLAN results.
Rebuilding public education
This is all part of the Minns Labor Government’s plan to rebuild public education and improve student outcomes by addressing over a decade of neglect by the former Government.
We are ensuring that students across NSW can attend a public school close to home, and that all families can access a world class education.
We know there’s much more to do, but we’re getting on with the job of rebuilding public education by:
- Banning mobile phones in all public schools, which has meant reduced distractions in school;
- Paying our teachers more, which has seen a 40 per cent drop in teacher vacancies since coming to office. That means more teachers in front our classrooms;
- Making more than 16,000 teachers and school support staff on temporary contracts permanent;
- Delivering a record $8.9 billion investment in new and upgraded schools across NSW.
Premier Chris Minns said:
“This is the single largest investment in public school students in NSW history, because every child deserves the opportunity to succeed, no matter where they live or what their background is.”
“We know that funding alone isn’t enough. That’s why we’re also delivering practical changes like early literacy and numeracy checks and expanded tutoring — to make sure students get the right support when they need it.”
Acting Minister for Education and Early Learning Courtney Houssos said:
“This announcement is a tribute to Deputy Premier Prue Car and her tireless work to deliver record education funding and ensure that every public school student can achieve their full potential.
“This is part of our work to reverse declining student outcomes after more than a decade of neglect and mismanagement under the former Liberal-National Government.
“The Minns Labor Government is rebuilding the NSW public education system to ensur