WA education funding cuts to hurt students

Education funding cuts in Western Australia will leave 90 per cent of the state's public school students worse off, the teachers' union says.

The State School Teachers' Union says it came to that conclusion after comparing government-provided figures for expenditure per student in 2015, based on enrolment projections, with the spend in 2013 when the funding cuts were announced.

Next year, more than 255,000 students will be worse off compared to 2013, while only 28,000 will be better funded, the union says.

On average, expenditure per student across the state will decrease by $730.

SSTUWA senior vice president Lincoln Rose said the education budget would increase in real terms by 1.2 per cent this financial year, but the student population would grow by 3.4 per cent, meaning less money per student.

"The education minister has been telling us that the education budget overall has been going up, and while that is the case, what he failed to disclose is that student numbers are going up at more than twice the rate of spending, meaning that per student expenditure has decreased significantly," Mr Rose said.

He said schools were cutting back on music, breakfast and specialist education programs.

Community and Public Sector Union/Civil Service Association assistant branch secretary Rikki Hendon said education cuts announced by the state government last week would also hurt schools.

The WA government is slashing jobs in the public sector in a bid to improve its ailing balance sheet, which is suffering from lower iron ore royalties and GST revenue.