No schools will be closed, Education Minister Nick McKim has just announced.
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Mr McKim said the decision to not close any schools was made today by Cabinet.
All schools will operate as normally for 2012.
Mr McKim said that a reference group will be established tasked with reporting on the viability challenges, sustainability challenges facing public school system.
He said that he expected that group to report back to him by the end of this year.
Mr McKim said that based on that advice, he would then take a recommendation to Cabinet.
“I will be in a position to announce the make-up of this reference group and its terms of reference in the near future,” he said.
Mr McKim said he understood the current process caused significant distress for students, parents, staff and their local communities.
“I acknowledge the pain and hurt that resulted from the announcement that up to 20 schools would be considered for closure and I apologise for that,” Mr McKim said.
“The potential closure of any school is a highly emotive issue and I am genuinely sorry for the anxiety that has been caused to all involved.
“I always said that I was engaged in a genuine consultation process, and I hope that people can now see that was the case.
“While we are not proceeding with the current process, the Government is not walking away from this issue. The fact is that Government school enrolments are declining significantly every year and we need to address this challenge.
“We will now engage in genuine consultation, which I hope will lead to a broad consensus about how we tackle this issue in the future.
“We got the process wrong, but we have listened to the community’s concerns and acted on them.
“It is an important part of our democracy that Governments are responsive to the communities they represent.
“I know my political opponents will see this as a show of weakness but I believe it takes strength to admit when you are wrong and move forward.
“My focus as Minister will always be on providing the best possible educational opportunities for Tasmanian students but we need to do it in a more consultative way.
“It became apparent to me after visiting eight of the schools being considered for closure that we should have engaged with school communities before the announcement was made.
“It has become clear that we need to devise a new process that has broad community consensus to address concerns about the viability of some schools. That is what we will now do."
Mr McKim said he has asked his Department to identify and deliver savings to the value of $24 million over four years.
“The Department has advised me that it will withdraw the additional $2 million for Raising the Bar Closing the Gap 7 Up initiative which was allocated in the 2011-12 State Budget as additional support beyond the level already allocated in schools.
“This funding was intended to support even more schools to improve students’ functional literacy and numeracy skills in years seven and up.
“A further $2 million will also be withdrawn from the funding allocated to Learning Services who currently support schools in their areas of the State. This will include further restructure of Learning Services.”
MORE TO COME
