ABSTRACT
In 1996, the long running Disadvantaged Schools Program (DSP) was abolished by the Federal Howard Government, and replaced by the Commonwealth Literacy Program (CLP). The DSP began in Australia as a result of considerable political agitation about economic and social inequities in Australia. The ongoing possibilities of litigation against school systems for inadequate care and instruction for students with disabilities provided a powerful motivator to swing attention and limited equity funds to meet these pressing needs. Limited funds were politely fought over by a range of equity advocates. In this competition for support, the anti-poverty and whole-school focus of the DSP was the eventual loser. Many rustbelt school administrators of former DSP schools targeted under the CLP actually feel that the shift from DSP to CLP has encouraged them to look again at literacy learning. Any new equity policy might well begin by refusing simple binary logic to embrace complexities and ambiguities.
