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.
Ben Carroll’s Claim
BEN CARROLL, VICTORIAN EDUCATION MINISTER: When Gonski was first created many years ago, it was the recommendation from David Gonski that school infrastructure also be included in the equation when it comes to Schooling Resource Standard. The Allan Labor government has spent 18 and a half billion on school infrastructure. None of that is including the School Resource Standard.
Excerpts from the Gonski Report
From the Report Summary
The schooling resource standard would:
• form the basis for general recurrent funding for all students in all schooling sectors
• consist of separate per student amounts for primary school students and secondary school students. [xvi]
To complement the recurrent schooling resource standard, there is a need for an expanded stream of Australian Government capital funding for both the government and non-government sectors. [xvii]
There is also a need for greater transparency and accountability for the condition of school infrastructure in Australia. This will be facilitated by the operation of the School Planning Authorities in each jurisdiction, as well as work by the National Schools Resourcing Body to develop expected standards to which buildings must be maintained and built, and greater monitoring and reporting on the condition of school infrastructure in all sectors and states. [xvii]
From the Report
… the resource standard proposed by the panel is a recurrent resource standard, which includes a provision for general maintenance and minor acquisitions (such as computers and general equipment below established capitalisation thresholds), but does not include capital costs associated with debt servicing or the acquisition of fixed assets such as land and buildings. Section 4.3.3 sets out the panel’s proposed approach to funding capital through an expanded but separate stream of funding. In time, the development of a separate capital standard would complement the recurrent resource standard and guide government investment in school infrastructure. [161]
Recommendation 10:
The schooling resource standard should:
• be a recurrent resource standard, which includes a provision for general maintenance and minor acquisitions below an established capitalisation threshold but does not include capital costs [162]
…capital and infrastructure costs (other than maintenance and minor works) will not be funded through the recurrent schooling resource standard… [185]
The National Schools Resourcing Body will investigate the feasibility of a national capital resource standard, and other cost benchmarking options, to assist with future monitoring and design of capital expenditure programs. [190]
Conclusion
Clearly Ben Carroll is misrepresenting the Gonski Report. His claim is that David Gonski recommended capital expenditure be included in the SRS is totally incorrect. The SRS was only ever intended to apply to recurrent funding. The Report specifically excluded capital expenditure from the SRS. The Gonski Report supported the development of a separate standard for infrastructure.
The Minister’s claim is intended to deflect attention from the continuing massive underfunding of public schools in Victoria. Public schools are the most underfunded system in Australia except for the Northern Territory. SOS estimates that Victorian public schools were underfunded by $2.1 billion in 2025 and $2.2 billion in 2026. The cumulative underfunding since 2018 amounts to about $16 billion.
The continued underfunding of public schools is a barrier to reducing the vast inequity in school outcomes between rich and poor students. The lives of thousands of students are being blighted by the underfunding.
Victoria is not the “education state” claimed by the Premier, Jacinta Allen, and her education minister. For example, the 2025 NAPLAN results show that 56.7% of Victorian Year 9 students whose parents did not complete Year 12 did not achieve the national reading standard,55.6% did not achieve the writing standard and 57.7% did not achieve the numeracy standard. In the case of Indigenous students, 52.6% did not achieve the reading standard, 56.9% did not achieve the writing standard and 57.9% did not achieve the numeracy standard.
In addition, large achievement gaps continue between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Low socio-economic status and Indigenous students are 4-5 years behind high SES students in reading, writing and numeracy.
The Victorian Government should sign a new funding agreement with the Albanese Government to fully fund public schools by 2029. Instead of being the national laggard in funding public schools it should live up to is “education state” motto and become the national standard bearer.