Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) The Minister must not authorise a payment to a State under a provision of this Act for government schools for a program year unless the State has made an agreement with the Commonwealth that sets out:
(a) a commitment by the State to the National Goals for Schooling prepared by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs; and
(b) a commitment by the State to achieve the performance targets, and report against the performance measures, specified in the regulations; and
(c) a commitment by the State to the publication, within one year after the end of each program year, of a national report on the outcomes of schooling; and
(d) a commitment by the State to ensure that school performance information is made publicly available; and
(e) a commitment by the State to report to the Minister about student attendance at each government school in the State, in a manner that is meaningful and allows ready comparisons to be made between different States; and
(f) a commitment by the State to the development, before 1 January 2006, of Statements of Learning that describe the key knowledge, understandings, skills and capacities in English, mathematics, science, civics and citizenship education, and information and communications technology, that each child should have the opportunity to acquire at school; and
(g) a commitment by the State to implement those Statements of Learning, either:
(i) as part of the State's next curriculum review if that review starts after 1 January 2006 and ends before 1 January 2008; or
(ii) before 1 January 2008 if the State does not undertake such a curriculum review; and
(h) a commitment by the State to put into place common testing standards in English, mathematics, science, civics and citizenship education, and information and communications technology; and
(i) a commitment by the State to put into effect, before 1 January 2006, the National Safe Schools Framework endorsed by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs; and
(j) a commitment by the State to provide, in the curriculum of each government school in the State, at least 2 hours of physical activity each school week for students undertaking primary education and junior secondary education at the school; and
(k) a commitment by the State to give the principal, and the governing body, of each government school in the State strengthened autonomy over, and responsibility for, education programs, staffing, budget and other aspects of the school's operations within a supportive framework of broad systemic policies; and
(l) without limiting paragraph ( k), a commitment by the State that appointments of staff in each government school in the State will be made with the approval of the principal, or the governing body, of the school; and
(m) a commitment by the State to implement, before 1 January 2006, a consistent national system for the timely transmission between schools of student information relating to students moving interstate; and
(n) a commitment by the State to ensure that the parents, guardians or other persons who have care and control of each child attending a government school in the State are given a report on the child's achievement against the appropriate national benchmarks for years 3, 5 and 7; and
(o) a commitment by the State to the achievement, before 1 January 2010, of:
(i) national consistency in the age at which a child starts the educational level undertaken in the year starting one year before the child starts year 1; and
(ii) a nationally consistent description for the educational level a child undertakes in the year starting 2 years before the child starts year 1; and
(iii) a nationally consistent description for the educational level a child undertakes in the year starting one year before the child starts year 1; and
(p) the commitment mentioned in section 15; and
(q) the conditions mentioned in section 16; and
(r) the conditions mentioned in sections 18, 19, 20 and 21.
(2) The agreement mentioned in subsection ( 1) may have
been made before the commencement of this Act.