The majority of ACT public school principals are facing difficult choices as they grapple with their school budgets for 2027.

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The Education Directorate has said it wants to distribute funding more equitably across the public school system.

A review of resourcing found that some primary schools in particular were missing out and the territory needed to move away from a diagnosis-based system of funding students with disabilities and learning difficulties.

While this aim might be worthy, the way the directorate has put this into practice has been nothing short of a shambles.

Last year, the majority of public schools needed top-up funding in addition to their student resource allocation just to get through to the end of the school year. Schools have also received one-off funding top-ups this year.

It's clear that the current school budget crisis was many years in the making.

Instead of getting ahead of the budget crisis, the directorate waited until the later part of this year to give principals their new budgets for 2027. This was said to include $40 million in extra funding for students with higher needs.

But data obtained by The Canberra Times suggests these cuts are broader and deeper than the public was led to believe.

At least 58 public schools will have a cut in their budget in 2027 compared with the actual amount they received this year.

The cost of salaries of teachers and other........

© Canberra Times