Michael Chaney to head National School Resourcing Board

The eight members of the National School Resourcing Board have been announced. Chaired by Dr Michael Chaney, the Board will undertake reviews of different parts of the funding model under the Australian Education Act 2013. 

Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham said the Board would be an expert body with members nominated by the Commonwealth, states and territories and the non-government sectors to review and recommend improvements to the way Commonwealth school funding is distributed across Australia.

"As promised, the first priority for the Board will be a review of the Socio Economic Status (SES) score methodology and current arrangements for determining the capacity of non-government school communities to contribute to the operational costs of their school," Minister Birmingham said.

“The Board will then examine the funding loading for students with a disability and the effective use of the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability.”

Board members

Dr Michael Chaney AO – Chair
Dr Chaney is currently Chancellor of the University of Western Australia. He graduated from the University of Western Australia and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1992. He has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Western Australia

Emeritus Prof Denise Bradley AC – Deputy Chair
Emeritus Professor Bradley is a noted Australian higher education administrator with specialist interests in educational equity and excellence. She led the Review of Australian Higher Education in 2008, and served as Vice Chancellor and President of the University of South Australia from 1997 to 2007.

She is currently a member of the Advisory Council for the NSW Centre for Educational Statistics and Evaluation, member of the NSW Skills Board and Director of SEEK Ltd.

Assoc Prof Natalie Brown
Prof Brown is the Director of the Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment. She completed a PhD in Plant Science in 2000 and in 2003, she became Program Director of the UTAS Bachelor of Teaching program. She moved to the Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching at UTAS as a Senior Lecturer, in 2006, becoming co-Head in 2008. Her next  appointment was as Director, Academic Quality, at the Tasmanian Institute of Learning and Teaching in the Division of Students and Education at UTAS. 

Prof Greg Craven AO
Prof Craven is a lawyer and academic, and has been Vice-Chancellor and President of Australian Catholic University since 2008. He currently is a member of the Commonwealth Higher Education Standards Panel, the Lead Vice-Chancellor for Universities Australia on Quality and Regulation, a member of the Teacher Education Expert Standing Committee for AITSL, and the NSW Vice-Chancellors Committee representative on the NSW Education Standards Authority Board’s Initial Teacher Education Committee.

Mr Bill Daniels AM
Mr Daniels has extensive experience in senior executive leadership and governance in education at the national level, and with the Australian Government and was the Executive Director of the Independent Schools Council of Australia from 2001-2015.

Prof Stephen Lamb
Prof Lamb is Director of the Centre for International Research on Education Systems at Victoria University, and holds the role of Research Chair in Education there. He has a distinguished record of contribution to educational research and policy over the last 30 years. His research is concerned with how well schools and education systems work, for whom and why.

Prof Ken Smith
Prof Ken Smith commenced as Dean and CEO of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government in May 2017.  Prior to that he was the Agent General for Queensland and Trade and Investment Commissioner for Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. He headed the Queensland Department of the Premier and Cabinet from 2007-2011 following serving as chief executive of a range of Queensland Government departments, including Infrastructure, Education, Arts, Employment and Training, Family Services and Housing Local Government and Planning.

Dr Alison Taylor
Dr Taylor is a demographer, with extensive experience in the research and application of demography and related information in an urban and regional planning policy context. She was most recently the NSW Chief Demographer, and before that worked for over 10 years as the leading demographer in the Queensland Government.

The Independent Schools Council of Australia (ISCA) has welcomed the announcement of the membership of the Board.

ISCA Executive Director Colette Colman said, “We wish Dr Michael Chaney and all the members of the Board, the best in their work ahead, including in their first task of undertaking a review of the SES score methodology.

“In particular, we congratulate Mr Bill Daniels on his appointment to the Board. He is a highly appropriate candidate who will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role following his distinguished career with ISCA and the Australian Public Service.”