This report reflects the views expressed by indigenous parents, educators and those in the broader indigenous community about recent changes to funding arrangements which threaten to undermine their full involvement in the education of their children. It is also the outcome of the concern expressed by professional educators about changes which may arrest progress in achieving improvements to literacy and numeracy among indigenous students.

Specifically, this report is critical of the rationale and administration of the distribution of indigenous education funding. The report focuses on what has made the program more difficult to administer, especially in the timeframe which the Government considered adequate for implementation. The new funding arrangements made heavy demands on the patience and energy of funding recipients. They not only reduced the amount of funding they could expect to receive, but caused a reduction of the critical involvement of indigenous parents in the running of schools.