KATTER'S Australian Party Member for Dalrymple Shane Knuth has backed the scrapping of a costly $620 million experiment to transition Year 7 students into high school.
"This issue has caused a great deal of concern throughout the Dalrymple electorate," Mr Knuth said.
He said small primary schools are already struggling to maintain consistent enrolment numbers, and the removal of Year 7 in 2015 will result in the closure of many rural schools in the Dalrymple electorate.
"Rural families will be further punished through paying an extra year of secondary school costs, as they would be forced to send their children to boarding school a year earlier," he said.
"Primary schools play a vital role in the education of our children and they are pivotal in maintaining strong links within rural and regional communities."
Mr Knuth said the KAP policy to scrap the idea would not only save Queenslanders $620m, but would guarantee the survival of primary schools into the future.
"Queenslanders have always been proud of being unique and we should not have to blindly follow other states in this costly and foolish experiment which jeopardises our rural communities," he said.
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