Future of Non Public School Over-Funding Hinges on a Word

An Amendment Bill before the Parliament could lock-in billions in Commonwealth over-funding for private, catholic and independent schools for years to come.

Under the current Commonwealth arrangements, private schools will be over-funded by $2.8 billion during 2022-2028, Catholic schools by $1.3 billion and
Independent schools by $1.5 billion. This over-funding is due to expire in 2029 when the legislative cap of 80% on the Commonwealth share of funding the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) becomes fully effective.

The submission asks that the current cap on Commonwealth funding be replaced by a floor. If adopted, it will open the door for a future government to arbitrarily increase the Commonwealth share of funding for private schools without any parliamentary scrutiny.

If the current cap of 80% for Commonwealth funding is replaced by a floor of 80% this would create the opportunity for a future Labor or Coalition government to increase the funding share above 80%, thereby entrenching or increasing the current over-funding. This is entirely possible as there will be two federal elections before the over-funding is due to end.

Moreover, the increase could be made almost in secret as the Bill provides that changes to the Commonwealth SRS shares in future would be determined by the Minister through a change to the Regulation to the Act and any change would not be subject to disallowance by the Parliament. The only constraint on the Minister is that the Bill provides that the Minister must consult with the Ministerial Council of education ministers on any change to the Commonwealth share.

So, a future Minister could increase the share above 80% virtually at will since there will be no recourse in the Parliament. It could even increase the share to 100% which would result in massive over-funding because of state/territory funding of private schools.

The original Gonski funding model was undermined by special deals negotiated with the Catholic Church and ISA. Commonwealth over-funding of private schools is compounded by state/territory government over-funding. The most recent funding compliance report by the National Schools Resourcing Board shows that every state government except the Northern Territory is funding private schools at above 20% of their SRS.

Recently, an orchestrated campaign stopped the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to end tax deductible status for school building funds, indicating a lack of political will to change current funding agreements.

Image by Alimurat Üral