Trevor Cobbold – SOS Australia

Government Funding Supports Huge Resource Advantage for SA Private Schools

Trevor Cobbold / August 18, 2026 / Funding

Figures published earlier this year show that South Australian private schools have a major resource advantage over public schools. Since 2009, private schools have received large increases in government funding while funding for public schools has been cut. Public schools remain massively underfunded for the challenges they face while Independent and Catholic schools are overfunded. The favourable funding for private schools is a key factor behind the enrolment shift to these schools.

WA Private Schools Have a Huge Funding Advantage Over Public Schools

Trevor Cobbold / August 2, 2026August 3, 2026 / Funding

Figures published earlier this year show that private schools in Western Australia have a major resource advantage over public schools. Private schools have received large increases in government funding while funding for public schools has been cut since 2009. Public schools remain massively underfunded, especially given the challenges they face while Independent and Catholic schools are overfunded. The favourable funding for private schools is a key factor behind the enrolment shift to these schools.

Updated figures published by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) show that the total income per student in WA public schools in 2024 was $20,154 compared to $25,270 per student in Independent schools and $21,005 in Catholic schools [Chart 1]. The total income per student in Independent schools is 25% more than that of public schools and 4% higher in the case of Catholic schools.

20 Years of Save Our Schools

Trevor Cobbold / July 24, 2026 / Equity in education, National issues

Last month was the 20^th anniversary of Save Our Schools (SOS). It was established in June 2006 to fight the ACT Labor Government’s plan to close 39 public pre-schools and schools, , including nearly one-third of all primary schools in the ACT. SOS led a high profile campaign which included extensive community involvement, demonstrations, media coverage and public advocacy. It resulted in saving 18 schools. A campaign followed to stop the closed schools sites being sold off which succeed in retaining most sites for community use.

SOS then expanded its focus to advocating nationally for public schools and greater equity in education. It subsequently published a vision statement which said:

Save Our Schools strives for a high quality public education system that:

Ensures that all children receive the education necessary for a full adult life and to be active citizens;
Achieves social equity in education outcomes; and
Sustains a democratic and socially tolerant society.

SOS has pursued these objectives vigorously over many years through many contributions to public debate on equity in education, school funding and other aspects of education policy in Australia.

Private Schools Want Billion Dollar Slush Fund To Stay

Trevor Cobbold / July 9, 2026 / Funding

Private schools have opened a campaign to have the $1.2 billion Choice and Affordability slush fund extended beyond 2029 when it is due to end. In Senate Estimates last month, Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic repeatedly questioned Department of Education officials whether the Fund will be continued after 2029. Senator Walsh, representing the Minister for Education, said no decision has been made about the future of the Fund. In the lead up to the next election the Government can expect more pressure to continue this privileged funding which is additional to the current needs-based system.

QLD Private Schools Have a Large Resource Advantage Over Public Schools

Trevor Cobbold / June 18, 2026June 18, 2026 / Funding

New figures show that private schools have a major resource advantage over public schools in Queensland. Government funding increases have favoured Catholic and Independent schools over public schools since 2009. Public schools remain massively underfunded for the challenges they face while Independent and Catholic schools are overfunded. The favourable funding for private schools is a key factor behind the enrolment shift to these schools.

Updated figures published by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) show that the total income per student in public schools in 2024 was $20,164 compared to $26,132 per student in Independent schools and $22,649 in Catholic schools [Chart 1]. The total income per student in Independent schools is 30% more than that of public schools and 12% higher in the case of Catholic schools.

Don’t Destroy Public Edcation in the Name of Reform

Trevor Cobbold / June 10, 2026 / Equity in education, Funding, Public education

The following is a summary of a research paper by Save Our Schools. The full paper can be downloaded below.

Australia’s education debate is at a dangerous turning point. In the pursuit of greater equity, some commentators propose that private schools receive full taxpayer funding, provided they do not charge fees and relax some enrolment restrictions. Save Our Schools completely rejects this proposal as a chimera that also jettisons the foundation principles of public education.

The central question is not whether Australia needs a fairer education system. It unquestionably does. The real question is whether we strengthen public education — or dismantle its core principles.

SOS rejects full taxpayer funding of private schools for two reasons:

It abrogates key principles of public education; and
Religious and private school organisations are very unlikely to give up their resource advantage over public schools and their special funding privileges.

Gonski Rejected Accounting Tricks Included in Bilateral Funding Agreements

Trevor Cobbold / June 3, 2026 / Funding, Public education

The bilateral school funding agreements between the Albanese and state/territory governments allow the states and the Northern Territory to claim several expenditures as part of their share of funding the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) of public schools which are specifically excluded from how the SRS is estimated. The Gonski Report of 2011 rejected inclusion of these expenditures in the calculation of the SRS. They were excluded from original funding agreements that implemented the Gonski funding model in 2014 and were first introduced in the Morrison Government agreements in 2019.

These provisions allow state and Northern Territory governments to artificially boost their claimed funding shares for public schools. They can pretend they are spending more on public schools than they are in reality. The provisions allow governments to defraud public schools of legitimate SRS funding.

Independent Schools Own Up to Major Flaw in the Private School Funding Model

Trevor Cobbold / May 26, 2026May 26, 2026 / Funding

In a extraordinary development, Independent Schools Australia (ISA) has owned up to a fundamental flaw in how government funding of its schools is estimated. A media release issued by ISA reveals that 20% of families in Independent schools receive financial support from other family members.

It is an extraordinary admission because ISA is effectively admitting that its schools are overfunded. They are overfunded because income from other family members is not included in adjusted taxable family income which is used to determine Commonwealth Government funding of private schools. The median adjusted taxable income of parents in a private school determines the capacity to contribute (CTC) score which in turn determines the base level of Commonwealth funding.

Private schools are overfunded to the extent that income from other family members leads to underestimation of adjusted taxable income and the CTC score. The higher the proportion of students who have their fees partially or wholly paid by other family members the greater the overfunding of a school. As a result, the extent of overfuding due to the Bank of Mum and Dad will vary between schools.

NSW Independent Schools Enrol Very Few Low Income Students

Trevor Cobbold / May 17, 2026May 17, 2026 / Equity in education, Funding, Public education

It is fascinating to see how Independent schools and their lobby groups now resort to claiming they enrol many students from low income families as justification for their over-generous and ever increasing taxpayer funding. The latest is the claim by Independent Schools NSW that they serve the needs of lower income families. Catholic school organisations also make similar claims.

The facts are that NSW Independent and Catholic schools serve a very small proportion of low income students and only a tiny proportion of schools are disadvantaged. It is NSW public schools that serve the vast majority of low income families and nearly all disadvantaged schools in NSW are public schools. Moreover, public schools are vastly underfunded to meet the learning needs of these students while Independent and Catholic schools are very well resourced to meet the learning needs of their students.

Canada is No Solution

Trevor Cobbold / May 8, 2026 / Public education

The following letter was submitted to the Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald in response to an opinion piece by author Jane Caro in the Sun-Herald on 3 May. The letter was not published.

It is baffling that erstwhile advocates of public education want to jettison core principles that have governed public education for 150 years. Jane Caro’s proposal to adopt Ontario’s system of full taxpayer funding of private schools (SMH 3 May) should be comprehensively rejected because it breaches the core principles of secular, non-discriminatory and free education.

It would introduce structural contradictions in the public system: some schools would be secular and others free to propagate a religion; some would be prohibited from discrimination in hiring staff while others would be allowed to discriminate on the basis of gender, disability, sexual orientation, transgender identity and marital status.

Full taxpayer funding of private schools is no guarantee that they would not be able to charge fees. Other countries sch as Netherlands, Belgium and New Zealand which integrate Catholic schools in the public system permit a plethora of fees, capital charges and pseudo fees in the form of so-called voluntary contributions.

Catholic and Independent schools had the chance to participate in a truly needs-based funding system designed by David Gonski. They squibbed it in favour of special funding deals. Generous government funding and fees provide Catholic schools with a significant resource advantage over public schools and a very large advantage in the case of Independent schools. It is incomprehensible that they would give this up in the light of the Gonski experience.

It is equally incomprehensible that the Catholic bishops and education leaders y would give up the privilege of diverting government funding intended for regional and outer suburban disadvantaged schools to inner-city schools competing for market share with wealthy Independent schools.

The direct way to reduce social segregation in schools is to stop the massive underfunding of public schools and ensure their full funding as well as end the overfunding of private schools.