(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
The federal government has launched what it's calling an Independent Public School Initiative.
The plan is aimed at encouraging around 1,500 public schools around the country to operate more like private schools.
The move fulfils an Abbott government election promise to spend $70 million on getting parents and principals to have more say on school curriculums, budgets and management.
Amanda Cavill reports.
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The federal government wants to assist a quarter of Australia's public schools to become independent by 2017, bringing them closer to the governance and management practices of private schools.
Under the plan, the government will use $70 million to train school principals and leadership boards to become ready for independence by 2017.
Education Minister Christopher Pyne says there's evidence that student results can be improved by giving public schools the authority to choose staff, manage budgets and exert control over the curriculum.
In Western Australia, a third of all public school boards and principals already have these powers.
Those schools are known as Independent Public Schools.
Mr Pyne wants public schools across the country to follow the West Australian model.
"The more autonomous a school, the better the outcomes for students. This is because the more a principal and his or her leadership team have control over the destiny of their own school, the more that seems to lift the school performance."
Western Australia's Independent Public Schools Initiative was launched by the state government in 2010.
The schools have more power to hire staff, manage the budget and shape the curriculum.
The schools that have made the switch remain publicly funded and cannot charge fees but have school boards and operate with a very high degree of autonomy from the state government.
Unlike private schools, independent public schools must accept all student enrolment applications.
Victoria's Minister for Education, Martin Dixon, says his state has had independent public schools in effect for more than two decades.
Mr Dixon says the federal government's initiative takes into account the differing needs of states and territories to work towards independent schools, and he hopes it will get bipartisan support.
"Victorian schools have the highest level of autonomy. It's every single school here in Victoria, compared to all other states and territories. And that's been part of our education culture for a couple of decades now and it's stood the test of time. And it's withstood changes of political parties leading the state because it's the right thing to do for our schools. What I really like about the program is that it recognises it's not a one-size-fits-all approach and that different states and territories are at different stages of autonomy and understanding of autonomy and implementation."
The federal government has set a number of objectives for its Independent Public Schools initiative.
These include increasing local and parental involvement in schools, delivering more streamlined budgeting and staffing arrangements and more local management of school facilities and infrastructure.
To complement the Independent Public Schools initiative, the Australian Government has also released an online resource, the Guide for Parents on School Boards and School Councils.
The guide is designed to help explain how school boards and councils work in different school systems and the ways parents can get involved in the governance of their child's school.
Mr Pyne says when parents are involved in their children's education, the children and the schools all benefit.
He says he hopes the Labor Party will back the government's move.
"Of course Julia Gillard when she was the Prime Minister used to take credit for independent public schools in Western Australia so I am sure that Labor will want to get on board. Chris Bowen has written in his book last year, another book from a Labor figure, that he was in favour of independent public schools and Allanah McTiernan in Perth has been an advocate for more autonomy for public schools so this is just not just a Liberal-National issue."
In 2012 the West Australian Education Department commissioned a comprehensive evaluation of its independent public school initiative.
That report, conducted by the University of Melbourne, found that there was little evidence of change to student results, either in increased enrolments or student achievements.
The Australian Education Union says far from improving educational equality, the government's plan will create a school system that would advantage more affluent students and disadvantage the rest.
