Government announces $140 million plan to reform school attendance services

Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Frontline school attendance services will receive a major funding boost under a $140 million package announced in Budget 2025, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says.

The Government will spend about $123 million to deliver a new national attendance service, with a further $17 million to support and strengthen existing frontline services over the next four years.

“Frontline attendance services will be more accountable, better at effectively managing cases, and data driven in their responses,” Seymour said. “To achieve this, they will soon have access to a new case management system and better data monitoring, and their contracts will be more closely monitored.”

In 2024, the Education Review Office released a report stating that the current system for managing school attendance was ineffective. The report noted that funding discrepancies across providers left many services under-resourced and unable to meet demand.

It recommended targeted support for chronic absences, better retention efforts, a more efficient model, and stronger prevention measures.

Seymour said the new attendance model addresses three of the four recommendations, with a wider attendance action plan—requiring all schools to implement attendance management plans aligned with the Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) by Term 1 of 2026—covering the rest.

Service providers will offer a range of support based on student and school needs, from advisory assistance to intensive case management. Schools with high numbers of chronically absent students, often in high Equity Index (EQI) brackets, will be able to apply for in-school service funding.

Transition to the new model will begin at the end of this year, with full implementation expected in early 2026. The Ministry of Education will work with providers to ensure students continue to receive support during the transition.

“Attending school is the first step towards achieving positive educational outcomes. Positive educational outcomes lead to better health, higher incomes, better job stability and greater participation within communities. These are opportunities that every student deserves,” Seymour said.