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Budget 2011: digital school funds slashed

The Federal Government has cut $132.5 million from the funding of the Digital Education Revolution program as part of the Federal Budget handed down by Treasurer Wayne Swan this evening.
Written by Josh Taylor, Contributor

The Federal Government has cut $132.5 million from the funding of the Digital Education Revolution program as part of the Federal Budget handed down by Treasurer Wayne Swan this evening.

As part of the government's pledge to return the budget to surplus by the 2012/13 financial year, over half of the funding allocated over the next four years has been "redirected" from the program that was designed to invest in implementing ICT into schools, to "support other government priorities".

Instead of the $48.1 million originally allocated to the project each year, the initiative will receive only $20 million each year until the funding is pulled entirely in the 2014/15 financial year.

The remaining funding will be used for the establishment of a Digital Education Advisory Group and for the Digital Strategy for Teachers as well as other initiatives that support the Digital Education Revolution program such as the National Digital Learning Resources Framework.

According to the budget documents released tonight, this cut will not affect the aim of delivering laptops to every school student in Year 9 and above for the last few years. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations said in the document that the program is "on track to support schools in meeting a one-to-one ratio of computers to students in Year 9 and above by 31 December 2011".

See ZDNet Australia's complete coverage of the budget.

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