Trevor Cobbold – Page 2

Victorian Budget Must Fix Public School Funding Crisis

Trevor Cobbold / April 29, 2026 / Funding

These are the key points of a new brief on the state of school funding in Victoria. The full paper can be downloaded below.

Victorian public schools face a funding crisis that must be addressed in the forthcoming Victorian Government Budget.

Public schools are massively underfunded and have been since the Gonski funding model was introduced in 2014 to ensure they are fully funded at the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). In 2026, Victoria’s public schools are only funded at 86% of their SRS. Total underfunding is estimated at $2.2 billion.
Public schools are underfunded because of underfunding by both the Commonwealth and Victorian governments and because of “accounting tricks” used by the Victorian Government to defraud public schools

Resource Increases in NSW Private Schools Outstrip Public Schools

Trevor Cobbold / April 9, 2026 / Funding

New figures show that Independent schools have a major resource advantage over Catholic and public schools in NSW. Government funding increases have favoured Catholic and Independent schools over public schools since 2009. Catholic and public schools now have similar resource levels. However, 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.

Ben Carroll Mispresents the Gonski Report on Capital Funding

Trevor Cobbold / April 5, 2026 / Funding

Ben Carroll, Deputy Premier of Victoria and Education Minister, argues that government capital funding on public schools should be included in the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) because this was recommended by the Gonski Report in 2011. He claimed on the ABC 7.30 Report on 1 April that the Gonski Report recommended that capital expenditure on schools be included in the SRS. We Fact Check the claim and find it is incorrect. The Gonski Report recommended that capital expenditure be excluded from the SRS.

Underfunded public schools, overfunded private ones – the gap grows

Trevor Cobbold / April 1, 2026 / Funding

New school income data show that Catholic and Independent schools have increased their resource advantage over public schools in Australia. This trend has been driven by sustained increases in government funding combined with growth in fees in private schools. Decades of favourable funding for private schools is a key factor behind the enrolment shift to these schools. Public schools are massively underfunded while private schools are overfunded.

Over-Generous Government Funding Gifts Resource Advantage to Private Schools

Trevor Cobbold / March 18, 2026April 9, 2026 / Funding

New figures show that Catholic and Independent schools have increased their resource advantage over public schools. This advantage is the result of generous Commonwealth government funding increases supplemented by fee increases higher than the rate of inflation. Public schools remain massively underfunded in each state except the ACT while private schools are overfunded in each state except the Northern Territory. The favourable funding for private schools is a key factor behind the enrolment shift to these schools.

School Outcomes and Funding in South Australia – An Election Brief

Trevor Cobbold / February 15, 2026February 16, 2026 / Equity in education, Funding, Public education, School closures

The following are key points of a brief on the South Australian election campaign by Save Our Schools. The full brief can be ddowloaded below.

South Australian public schools face deep inequity and chronic underfunding, especially for socio-economically disadvantaged students. Candidates in the South Australian election must stand up for public schools.

Not the Education State: Victorian Public Schools Remain Massively Underfunded by New Schools Agreement

Trevor Cobbold / February 2, 2026February 2, 2026 / Funding

The Victorian Labor Government likes to label Victoria as “the education state”. This is a joke as far as public schools are concerned. A new schools agreement with the Commonwealth Government continues the longstanding massive underfunding of Victorian public schools by billions while Catholic and Independent schools continue to be overfunded. The continued underfunding of public schools is a barrier to reducing the vast inequity in school outcomes between rich and poor students.

Increasing Bureaucracy Swallows More of Public School Funding

Trevor Cobbold / December 3, 2025December 3, 2025 / Funding, Public education, Teachers

Increasing bureaucracy is a feature of public school systems in Australia. The growth in administrative staff in schools and in central departments has far outstripped the increase in teachers and students since 2015. The most dramatic staffing growth has occurred not in classrooms but in state education departments.

The growth in administrative staff reflects increasing reporting and compliance regulations required by governments in the face of the increasing complexity of student needs and expectations about service provision. It is absorbing an increasing proportion of expenditure on public schools. More funding is being diverted from core functions of teaching and supporting the learning and well-being of students to administrative and operational tasks. Moreover, there is widespread evidence that teachers are over-loaded with administrative tasks themselves. A key issue is to identify what is necessary and reasonable and what is unnecessary and wasteful of time and resources. Reviews of the workload on teachers in public schools in NSW and Victoria have revealed that teachers face much unnecessary administrative work.

OECD Survey Shows Australian Teachers Have a Very Heavy Workload

Trevor Cobbold / November 17, 2025 / Teachers

New figures released by the OECD show that Australian teachers have one of the heaviest workloads of in the OECD. Their working week is one of the longest in the OECD because of a large non-teaching workload. The heavy workload is a key factor in teacher stress, wellbeing, and resignations. Governments have failed to reduce the workloads, thereby exacerbating the ongoing shortage of teachers. More comprehensive policy initiatives and programs are needed to reconfigure the work of schools to reduce teachers’ workload and better support student learning and well-being.

It’s Official! Accounting Tricks Denied Public Schools Over $2 Billion in Funding in 2023

Trevor Cobbold / October 28, 2025October 29, 2025 / Funding

A new report by the National School Resourcing Board (NSRB) reveals that public schools lost over $2 billion in funding in 2023 because of accounting tricks used by state governments under the Commonwealth-State funding agreements operating at the time. The accounting tricks are continued under the new funding agreements signed this year. They mean that public schools will remain underfunded for the next ten years.