The claims by the Federal Education Minister and the Western Australian Premier that WA public schools will be fully funded by 2034 are a blatant falsehood. The new school funding agreement between the Commonwealth and the Western 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, Western Australian public schools will remain underfunded in 2034, 23 years after the Gonski Report recommended full funding. Public schools will remain massively underfunded in every 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, WA public schools will be funded at 97.8% of their Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) instead of 100%. Public schools will be underfunded by $192 million in 2034. Underfunding will be over $300 million a year from 2025 to 2033. The cumulative underfunding over the ten years of the agreement is estimated at $3.4 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 over the ten years. The Commonwealth share will increase to 22.5% by 2026 but will not exceed 23% until 2032. The Commonwealth funding increase over the ten years is estimated at $951 million. The increase over the first five years is estimated at $419 million and $533 million in the last five years
Second, the allowance for the Western Australian Government to claim capital depreciation and pre-school expenditure up to 4% of its SRS share will be only gradually phased out over the ten years. The large part of the reduction is delayed until the last five years. The schedule of annual reductions outlined in the agreement shows that the allowance will be reduced by only one percentage point by 2029 with the remaining 3% to be gradually reduced over the last five years. Western 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 $2.4 billion.
Third, the Western Australian Government can claim other non-SRS expenditure as part of its share of funding public schools. The Government can now separately claim expenditure on school transport for public school students up to 1.5% of its SRS share for public schools. The agreement admits these area “non-standard inclusions.” This is a remarkable admission by governments that these allowances defraud public schools of eligible SRS funding.
The Government can continue to claim expenditure on the Western Australian School Curriculum and Standards Authority and the Department of Education’s regulatory functions as part of its share of funding public schools. It is also “double dipping” on pre-school expenditure because it is already included in how the SRS is calculated for Western Australian public schools.
The funding loss for public schools from these non-SRS allowances will increase from $295 million in 2024 to $393 million in 2030 before gradually reducing to $192 million in 2034.
The agreement discriminates against public schools by allowing the Western 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 of 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 Western Australian Government should remove the 4% allowance by 2029 and immediately remove the new non-SRS expenditure claims as part of public school funding.