The average Australian 15-year-old is now around one academic year behind those of the same age from two decades ago, says the federal education minister. Alan Tudge says despite the 38 percent increase in education funding over the last decade, education performance has dropped “in both absolute terms and relative to other countries.” Australian students are now, on average, three years behind in maths and over one year behind in reading and science compared to fellow Singaporean students. “If this was our economy, this decline would be a nat­ional topic of conversation,” Tudge said. “Perhaps the lack of attention is because the decline has been gradual.” PISA testing results, which measures the academic performance of 15-year-olds across OECD nations, also shows a gradual fall in Australia’s education levels. In the early 2000s, Australia ranked 4th internationally in reading, 8th in science, and 11th in maths. But by 2018, those ranks …