AEU survey: public schools rely on fundraising and teacher contributions

The AEU’s State of Our Schools survey for 2017 has found that 83% of schools use fundraising to add to their budgets, and that 90% of principals who fundraise describe it as ‘important’ or ‘very important’. It also found that half of all public school teachers spend more than $500 of their own money each year on classroom basics.

The survey showed that fundraising was being used for school essentials: with 50% of schools using it for computer hardware or software, 45% for sports equipment, 43% for library resources or textbooks and 26% of schools for basic maintenance on school infrastructure.

Teachers were most likely to spend their own money on stationery (78%), classroom supplies (75%) and library resources (43%).

“Gonski funding is beginning to make a difference, and we are seeing schools doing fantastic things with the extra resources they have received so far, but about two-thirds of the extra funding schools need is due to be delivered in 2018 and 2019,” AEU President Correna Haythorpe said.

“We need this funding to close the gaps between schools, so that students at every school can get the support they need, when they need it."

Key findings of the survey, which was completed by 1428 principals and 7513 teachers, include:

• 83% of schools engage in fundraising, and 90% of those say it is ‘important’ or ‘very important’ for their annual budgets.
• 65% of teachers said their school was under-resourced, while only 5% said it was well-resourced.
• 95% of teachers spend their own money on school supplies, with 50% spending more than $500 each year and 10% spending over $2000.
• More than half of full-time teachers work over 50 hours per week on school-related activities, while 29% work over 55 hours per week.
• 75 per cent of teachers believe their workload is increasing.

[SOURCE]