Public education – SOS Australia

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.

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.

Tom Greenwell Reply to SOS

sosaustralia / May 11, 2026 / Funding, Public education

Tome Greenwell,co-author of Waiting for Gonski, has submitted the following comment on t our post Canada is No Solution. The comment is published in the interest of frthering public debate on an important issue in school funding in Australia.

In Ontario around 93 percent of students attend public schools. Two thirds of these public schools are secular, while one third are faith-based. But all are fully publicly funded and completely free; and all are required to enrol students from a local enrolment zone. The socioeconomic profile of the students in the faith-based schools is almost exactly the same as those in the secular schools. Social segregation is much lower in Ontario’s schools than Australia’s. The very small fee-charging private school sector serves around 7 percent of students and receives no public funding.

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.

SA Greens Support Full Funding of Public Schools

sosaustralia / March 14, 2026 / Equity in education, Funding, Public education

There is vast inequity between rich and poor in school outcomes in South Australia. A high proportion of socio-economically disadvantaged students in South Australia do not achieve national literacy and numeracy standards. There is a huge gap in school outcomes between advantaged and socio-economically disadvantaged students.

School funding in South Australia remains heavily biased against public schools. Government funding increase have favoured Catholic and Independent schools over public schools. Public schools have fewer resources than private schools and are significantly underfunded while Catholic and Independent schools are overfunded.

The new funding agreement between the Commonwealth and South Australian governments will provide a significant boost in funding for public schools by 2034. However, public schools will continue to be underfnded until 2034 and beyond.

The South Australian Greens support fully funding public schools by 2029. Here is the response by Robert Simms, Member of the Legislative Council of South Australia, to quesiotns put to election candidates by Save Our Schools.

We Need Stronger Public Education to Promote Social Cohesion

sosaustralia / March 11, 2026 / Public education

Australia has long been regarded as a successful multicultural society, integrating people from many different social and cultural backgrounds. Now, however, the sense of shared community that underpins this success is showing signs of strain. Racism and cultural intolerance have re-emerged as pressing social concerns.

Strengthening public education is one of the most practical ways Australia can build social cohesion and counter racism.

SA Greens Candidate Response to SOS Election Questions

sosaustralia / February 27, 2026 / Equity in education, Funding, Public education

The Greens candidate for Unley in the South Australian election, Dylan Kiernan, has provided the following response to the SOS Election Brief on education outcomes and funding in Sourth Australia.

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.

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.