The claims by the Prime Minister, the South Australian Premier and education ministers that South Australian public schools will be fully funded by 2034 are a blatant lie. The new school funding agreement between the Commonwealth and the South Australian Government will not set public schools are not on the path to full funding as government media releases say.
Despite a substantial and very welcome boost in funding, South Australian public schools will remain underfunded in 2034, 23 years after the Gonski Report recommended full funding. Public schools will remain very underfunded each year until 2034. It is a shameful neglect of the challenges facing public schools and the learning needs of disadvantaged students, the large majority of whom attend public schools.
In 2034, South Australian public schools will be funded at 97.6% of their Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) instead of 100%. Public schools will be underfunded by $120 million in 2034. Underfunding will increase from $373 million in 2024 to $402 million in 2028 before gradually declining to 2034. The cumulative underfunding over the ten years is estimated at $3.1 billion. Public schools also suffered massive losses also under the previous Morrison era agreement.
There are several reasons for the continuing underfunding.
First, the Commonwealth increase in its share of funding public schools from 20% to 25% is only gradually phased in and is heavily backloaded to the last five years. Its share will only increase by a 1.25 percentage point by 2029. The remaining 3.75% promised increase is left to the last five years. The increase over the first five years is estimated at $163 million and $318 million in the last five years
Second, the allowance for the South Australian Government to claim capital depreciation up to 4% of the SRS of public schools will not be removed until 2034. It will be reduced by only one percentage point by 2029 with the remaining 3% to be gradually reduced over the last five years. South Australian public schools will remain defrauded by this Morrison era “accounting trick” for another nine years. The cumulative loss of funding from this accounting trick will amount to $935 million.
Third, the South Australian Government can claim other non-SRS expenditure as part of its share of funding public schools. It can continue to claim expenditure on the Certificate of Education Board and the Education Standards Board. It can also claim up to1.8% of the SRS for what the agreement admits are “non-standard” inclusions. . It can now separately claim expenditure on school transport for public school students up to 1.07% of its SRS share for public schools to be phased in from 2026. A new allowance is that the Government can also claim expenditure on the mid-year intake in public schools up to 0.73% of its SRS share.
The funding loss for public schools from these non-SRS allowances will increase from $184 million in 2024 to $212 million in 2029 before reducing to $120 million in 2034.
The funding agreement discriminates against public schools by allowing the South Australian Government to claim non-SRS expenditures as part of its share of funding public schools but not for its share of funding private schools. Private schools are also subject to regulation and private school students are eligible for school transport subsidies. Discriminatory defrauding public schools provides another resource advantage for private schools.
The agreement must be revised to give public schools a better and fairer deal. The Commonwealth should accelerate the increase in its funding share of the SRS public schools to achieve 25% by 2029. The South Australian Government should remove the 4% allowance by 2029 and immediately remove new non-SRS expenditure claims as part of public school funding.