Minister’s pet project already treading water, critical fund raided to pay for it

Education Minister Jo Palmer’s pet Multi-School Organisation (MSO) project is already treading water, but that hasn’t stopped her raiding a key education fund to pay for it.

Despite the Minister’s ambition to grow the project, she could only confirm the location of one new school for 2027.

Minister Palmer also revealed she has been raiding the Better Fairer Schools Agreement to fund the project, with $600,000 used in 2025 and $500,000 allocated for both 2026 and 2027.

The BFSA is meant to be used for critical needs-based funding for schools on Gonski Reform principles to ensure educational equity – not a slush fund for the Minister’s pet project.

The MSO project was handpicked by the Minister after the department received nearly $200,000 worth of “sponsorship” for an all expenses trip to the UK to be sold the product.

It has been met with resistance by teachers across the state, and this resistance appears to be contributing to a lack of buy in.

Tender documents last month then revealed a Victorian consulting firm has since been paid nearly half a million dollars to evaluate the project.

Today, despite approving that spend at the same she is cutting almost $230 million from Education, the Minister couldn’t even answer how she would measure success from the trial.

As a former teacher, I know there aren’t any silver bullets for Tasmania’s education system. I also know you can’t cut hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of support from the schools like the Liberals are, and expect better outcomes.

The education of Tasmania’s students builds our future. Any reform needs a considered approach and support from the sector, not a Minister plucking a pet project from overseas after a highly sponsored study tour.