WA school services to be privatised

The Western Australian Liberal government has decided to outsource the construction and non-teaching operations of eight new public schools. Private companies will be contracted for the next 25 years.

United Voice secretary Carolyn Smith criticised the move as “abdicating the responsibility of government”.

“When something goes wrong on a privatised site like a hospital or a prison, governments get to say ‘Well, it’s not our fault’, and dodge the blame”, said Smith. “Ultimately it’s the children that will be impacted most by this decision.”

School privatisation is the logical extension of the Independent Public School (IPS) model. Principals of independent schools are given more control over resource allocation, such as the school’s budget and staff hiring.

This introduces business principles into education, with the principal acting more like the CEO of a company. Nearly a third of WA state schools are now Independent Public Schools.

State public sector unions have been timid in their response to the government’s IPS agenda, which has emboldened the Liberals to push for more privatisation. While unions such as United Voice WA and the State School Teachers Union of WA have opposed privatisation and cuts, they have failed to put forward an effective strategy to defeat them.

Teachers and school staff rallied in their thousands in April against cuts of more than $180 million to WA schools. However, the initiative was lost when no follow-up strike was called.

Despite overwhelming public opposition to the Liberals’ agenda, the unions have failed to mobilise opposition in a way that could force the government to back down. At best, the unions see a “long fight” of marginal seat campaigning up to the next election. At worst, they don’t seek to fight at all, but to “manage the transition” to a new system.

If we are to resist this onslaught of privatisation and cuts, unions need to focus on what can be done to halt the Liberals in the here and now.