Category: Funding

The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit of the Parliament has slammed the Commonwealth Department of Education for failing to ensure that government funding of public and private school systems is distributed according to needs-based principles. In a bi-partisan report tabled in the Parliament last week, the Joint Committee criticised a lack of transparency and accountability about school funding caused by inadequate administrative arrangements.

Continue reading “Education Department Slammed for Failure to Monitor How School Systems Distribute Taxpayer Funding”

This article is a summary of a new Education Research Brief published by Save Our Schools. The Brief can be downloaded below.

Public schools are being defrauded by billions under school funding agreements finalised at the end of last year between the Commonwealth and state/territory governments (“the states”). Public schools in all states except the ACT will be under-funded indefinitely while private schools in all states except the Northern Territory will be fully funded or more by 2023. Private schools also get more favourable phase-in arrangements than public schools.

Continue reading “Public Schools are Defrauded by Billions Under New Funding Agreements”

A new comprehensive review of academic studies in the United States has found overwhelming evidence of a strong causal relationship between increased school spending and student outcomes. It concludes that “the question of whether money matters is essentially settled” and that “….any claim that there is little evidence of a statistical link between school spending and student outcomes is demonstrably false”.

Continue reading “Money Matters for Student Outcomes”

School fees in Victoria’s elite private schools are set to increase by nearly 6% in 2012. At Geelong Grammar they will top $30,000 for the first time. Several others will pass $25,000 for the first time. At the same time, they are raking in millions and millions of dollars in government funding. The Gonski Review of School Funding must put a stop to this upper class welfare.

Continue reading “Fee Increases Outstrip Cost Increases in Elite Private Schools in Victoria”

Public schools will lose about $6.1 billion in funding over ten years from 2018 under the new Bilateral Agreement between the Commonwealth and Western Australian Governments published last week. It means that public schools will be under-funded by about $4.6 billion to 2027. In contrast, a special provision in the Agreement will allow private schools to continue to be over-funded. What a legacy by a Labor Government!

Continue reading “WA Public Schools Lose Billions Under New Education Agreement”

This article is a summary of a new Education Research Brief published by Save Our Schools. The Brief can be downloaded below.

Public schools in NSW and South Australia will be swindled by about $7.5 billion over the next decade under new special deals incorporated in education agreements recently negotiated with the Commonwealth Government. The loss to NSW public schools is about $6.1 billion over the ten years and about $1.4 billion for South Australian public schools. Public schools around the country will lose about $16.5 billion over ten years if the swindle is extended to other states, as is likely.

Continue reading “Public Schools Are Swindled by Billions Under New Education Agreements”

Yet another study shows that money matters in education. A new study published in the latest issue of the Economics of Education Review found that increased funding for New York State school districts led to increased student test scores. It concluded:

The findings in this study show clear and compelling evidence that educational resources improve student learning…[and] builds onto a growing body of evidence that educational resources contribute to improved student outcomes. [pp. 176, 177]

Continue reading “Another Study Shows That Funding Matters in Education”

The following is a new Education Policy Brief published by Save Our Schools. It can be downloaded below

Introduction

The Gonski funding model was systematically dismantled by the Abbott and Turnbull Governments and it was almost dead and buried by the end of Turnbull’s reign. The Morrison Government immediately put more nails in the Gonski coffin with a new special $4.6 billion funding deal for private schools that is not fully based on need.

The new special deal has two main components –an additional $3.2 billion over 10 years from 2020 to 2029 to implement a new method of assessing capacity to pay in private schools and an additional $1.2 billion over the same period to support parent choice. The large bulk of the increase will go to Catholic schools.

Continue reading “Morrison Puts More Nails in the Coffin of Gonski”

Public schools have suffered a double blow in the last fortnight. The Morrison Government announced a $4.6 billion appeasement deal for private schools with no increase for public schools. Last week The Guardian exposed how Labor and Coalition state governments are trying to evade commitments to increase their funding of public schools through a subterfuge. If successful, public schools, which enrol over 80% of disadvantaged students, could lose up to $2.6 billion a year. Public schools need and deserve better than this. Continue reading “State Govts Evade Commitments to Public Schools”

New figures show that private schools were massively favoured over public schools by government funding increases between 2008-09 and 2012-13. Funding for private schools, adjusted for inflation, increased by a staggering eight times more than for public schools.

The huge disparity shows that governments give greater priority to funding more privileged sections of the community than improving the learning outcomes of disadvantaged students, the overwhelming majority of whom attend public schools. The disparity is even larger than that revealed by the latest Report on Government Services, which shows that funding for private schools increased by four times that for public schools. Continue reading “Massive Increases in Govt Funding for Private Schools”