There is no more prudent investment than spending money on junior sporting facilities.
The University of Tasmania (Thomas, Cruickshank, and Patterson) longitudinal study of Tasmanian primary schools from 2009 to 2019 found that, “…regardless of size, there was a direct correlation between a school’s relative educational advantage and its success in running carnivals. The richer they were, the faster they ran.”
Read MoreLong before a Jack Jumper was a franchise and when teams of the black biting ants were more likely to require an EpiPen than hoops, Launceston's YMCA provided the boards for junior basketball.
Primary school basketball was huge in the 1980s with kids introduced by a small number of teachers who held a love of the game.
Read MoreIn Tasmania, our public schools will not reach 100 per cent of the SRS under the bilateral agreement signed by state and federal Liberal governments until 2027.
Every independent and Catholic school across Tasmania is already at that standard.
More than 70 per cent of Tasmanian students attend public schools, yet these schools attract 10 per cent less funding than their private counterparts.
Can you even begin to imagine if private hospitals received 10 per cent more funding year on year than the public system?
Read MoreWhen considering the historical and cultural issues associated with apparent retention of full-time students to year 12, the latest Productivity Commission report tells us that catholic and independent schools (63.8 per cent), despite significant federal and state government funding on top of weighty fees, are unable to retain students at the same rate as their public counterparts (80.4 per cent).
Conceivably it is the diversity of public college offerings and the critical mass of students that drives retention success. And when you add part-time students to the equation with Tasmania having a higher proportion due to caring and work responsibilities, apparent public college retention has hovered around the 80 per cent mark for a decade.
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