School Funding: A Societal Fissure?
‘Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.’
Proverbs 22:6
Dear Students, Parents and Carers
School funding is topical at the moment. Letters to newspaper editors often feature contributions by members of the public against the category described, generally, as ‘private schools’. This has the potential to be a live, and perhaps contentious discussion for Shore parents at the proverbial dinner party or through interactions with work colleagues. In a sense, the horse has bolted on this one as in Australia’s two most populous cities, Sydney and Melbourne, well over 40 percent of Years 11 and 12 students attend non-government and independent schools. Discussion often provides more heat than light; hence, here are a few facts to clarify this situation.
Australia has three schooling sectors. The first, government schools, comprises those schools run by the Department of Education in that state or territory. The second is the non-government sector, usually comprising systemic schools operated under some central authority such as the Catholic Education Office. These central offices mimic the Department of Education in that they are authoritative entities and governing bodies. The third is the independent sector, a loose affiliation of schools governed by their own school Councils/Boards, which are entities in themselves. A point of confusion is that sometimes independent schools can be swept up with the non-government sector, as defining all those schools which are not responsible to the Department of Education.
As a function of federalism, state governments mostly fund government schools (with small contributions to non-government and independent schools), while the situation is reversed in that the federal government directs most of its schooling funds towards non-government and independent schools. These contributions are on a sliding scale: the less needy schools, based on the various indicators, receive the least funding. At Shore, 93 percent of our funds come from private sources, mostly parents paying fees, with some donations through our Foundation. Governments do not contribute to capital works at schools like Shore, as Shore does not qualify for assistance under the socio-economic indicators.
The funding model is based on SRS (School Resource Standard) indicators, a methodology introduced in the last 15 years following the first Gonski school funding review. The beauty of the Gonski proposals was that funding should be ‘sector blind’, treating independent, systemic and government schools in exactly the same way according to need established on the basis of income, as quantified by the ATO (Australian Taxation Office) and other occupational and educational factors derived from the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics).
For various reasons, political and financial, no government, whether Coalition or Labor, has fully implemented the Gonski recommendations, either 1.0 or 2.0.
It is sometimes alleged that independent schools take money from government schools. In truth, if there were no independent or non-government schools, the government would need to resource government schools at the full cost of education for the total population of students, rather than pay a proportion only of these schooling funds to non-government and independent schools.
Government funding of non-government and independent schools occurred after a famous failure of a Catholic school in Goulburn by government inspectors in 1962. The inspectors demanded that this school upgrade its facilities. The school lacked the funds to do so, hence, the local Bishop ordered the closure of all Catholic schools in the diocese and directed all children from those schools to attend local government schools. This was untenable for the government sector, which lacked the facilities and the funds to place these students. This led to the beginning of government funding of non-government and independent schools.
The independent sector now accounts for nearly 19 percent of Australian children, with a little over 18 percent in non-government schools, which are mostly systemic (i.e. Catholic, Steiner and Montessori). A little under 65 percent of Australian students attend government schools. The independent sector has grown by 25 percent in the last 10 years, with half of this growth occurring in the last three years.
Over half of the independent schools in Australia fall into the low fee bracket, often serving disadvantaged communities. Schools like Shore are able to offer a large range of opportunities to their students, essentially through parent contributions, mostly through fees but also through donations to the School Building Bund and Library Fund. Essentially, parents decide what kind of school best suits their child.
Sadly, the funding wars will probably continue, mostly driven by misinformation and a sense of hostility from some quarters. The Old Testament Book of Proverbs says “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Many parents trust schools like Shore to build a values system in boys consistent with the home, which will, indeed, Build Good Men, as is one of our key aims at Shore. In fact, research shows that securing such personal growth in their children is a key reason for parents parting with hard earned dollars as an investment in their child’s development through a school of their choice.
Education Demystified
The education system in which Shore operates is very complex and certainly much different from when parents were at school. Next week, we are offering two sessions in an attempt to explain how education works in New South Wales (NSW). This is not something we will do every year. As a ‘taster’, here are some questions which those of us who speak will attempt to answer:
- What is the ATAR?
- How is it calculated?
- What is scaling in the HSC?
- What is the relationship between NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) and schools?
- What responsibilities does an independent school have towards the Department of Education?
- What is the difference between the NSW Department of Education and the federal Department of Education and Training?
- What is VETAB and what are Vocational Education courses?
- What is CRICOS?
- What are the indicative hours which apply to curriculum? What are the rules about curriculum?
- What provisions are made for learners with significant issues?
On Tuesday 9 April 2024, parents of Years 3-12 are invited to a session in the Smith Auditorium. The booking link is here.
On Wednesday 10 April 2024, parents of ELC-Year 2 are invited to a session in the K,1,2 Assembly Hall at Northbridge. The booking link is here.
Headmaster Homed
On the last day of Term, your Headmaster heads for hospital for some elective throat surgery. The Professor is a Shore parent, keen to have me fully operational. I will, of necessity, be recuperating during the school holidays, sworn to a vow of silence to let the vocal chords recover. I expect to be in good auditory state at the beginning of Term 2.
Mr John Collier
Headmaster