NSW: 10% pay rise for teachers, budget overview

The Minns government has made a post-budget announcement that public sector workers will receive a 10.5 per cent pay rise over three years with a $1000 top-up if inflation exceeds 4.5 per cent.

Independent Education Union NSW/ACT branch secretary Carol Matthews said the wage increase was a "good starting point for negotiations."

Unions have expressed concern that the increase will not be enough to retain essential workers during a cost-of-living crisis.

The state's budget, announced Tuesday night, also includes a previously announced $28,000 bonus for educators to take jobs in regional schools that have long-standing vacancies.

The central education investment in the budget, however, is into school infrastructure with an $8.9bn spend to build new schools, and upgrade existing ones, along with the biggest spend on social housing in NSW history.

Western Sydney will receive 60 new schools with a $3.6bn cut of the larger spend to support its population growth, on top of the new public school and high school at Box Hill.

Regional areas will also receive a combined $1.4bn for new and upgraded schools.

Announced prior to the budget, $1.08bn of the larger package will go towards upgrading school amenities, toilets, science labs and vocational education facilities.

Although, NSW Teacher's Federation president Henry Rajendra said, individual schools need more funds for capital works, to build and mend things like lighting, flooring and wiring.

"The federal budget's confirmation that the Albanese Government will no longer provide capital works funding for public schools, while allocating nearly $1bn to private schools over the next four years, is deeply concerning," Mr Rajendra said.

"This decision highlights a misalignment of priorities and requires immediate action from the Prime Minister to address the disparities in public school provision across the nation."

He also said advocating for full Schooling Resource Standard funding for public schools is still the union's top priority.

"To ensure that every student has access to a high-quality education, the Albanese government must fulfil its responsibility by contributing the remaining 25 per cent of the SRS," he said.

"Failure to do so will leave hundreds of thousands of students without the resources they need to reach their full potential."

The NSW government pledged to fund 75 per cent of the SRS for state schools in May last year, but lags behind other states in securing a full funding deal with the federal government.

The Minns government has been urging the Commonwealth to up its funding share to 25 per cent to meet the 100 per cent goal.

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