The Australian
Constitution grants the Commonwealth no specific powers in relation
to education. Nevertheless under Section 96 of the Constitution it has partially
funded government and non-government schools since the Menzies era, with recurrent funding for private school students beginning in 1970 under Liberal Prime
Minister John Gorton.
Some of these private schools belong to organizations holding considerable wealth. The Sydney Catholic archdiocese alone controls funds worth more than $1.2 billion and has regularly made multi-million dollar tax-free profits and nationally the Australian Catholic Church is thought to be worth an est. $100 billion.
On 18 May
2016 The
Age reported on the growth in that federal government funding for non-government
schools:
Something is seriously
wrong when private school students get more in government support than the
government's own students. Just as it is when private superannuants get more in
government support than the government's own pensioners.
Yet it's happening, and
neither side of politics wants to talk about it.
You can check out
examples in your own suburb by scouring the MySchool website.
In Balwyn, the government-run
Balwyn Primary gets $7214 of government funds per student, while down the road
the privately run St Bede's Parish Primary gets $7974, plus what it charges
parents.
In Preston, Newlands
Primary gets $10,362 but Sacred Heart gets $11,488. In Spotswood, Spotswood
Primary gets $8008 while St Margaret Mary's gets $11397. In Ballarat, Ballarat
North Primary gets $8158 while St Patrick's gets $8499.
That's by no means a complete
list, and the schools I have mentioned are roughly matched for size and
socio-economic status.
Right now, on average,
Catholic and independent private schools get less per student than government
schools, but if present trends continue they'll overtake government schools in
four years. An analysis by a former president of the NSW Secondary Principals
Council, Chris Bonnor, and education researcher Bernie Shepherd entitled Private
School, Public Cost finds that by 2020 the typical Catholic student
will receive $850 more than the typical government student, and the typical
independent student $100 more.
In the Lower Clarence Valley (Page electorate) on the NSW North Coast similar examples can be found.
Net recurrent income 2014
|
$ Total
|
$ Per student
|
|||||||
Australian Government recurrent
funding
|
969,340
|
10,536
|
|||||||
State/territory government recurrent
funding
|
207,246
|
2,253
|
|||||||
Fees, charges and parent
contributions
|
98,101
|
1,066
|
|||||||
Other private sources
|
55,836
|
607
|
|||||||
Total gross income
(excluding income from government capital grants) |
1,330,523
|
14,462
|
|||||||
Net recurrent income 2014 |
$ Total
|
$ Per student
|
||||||||
Australian Government recurrent
funding
|
607,352
|
1,586
|
||||||||
State/territory government recurrent
funding
|
3,030,464
|
7,912
|
||||||||
Fees, charges and parent
contributions
|
86,124
|
225
|
||||||||
Other private sources
|
7,982
|
21
|
||||||||
Total gross income
(excluding income from government capital grants) |
3,731,922
|
9,744
|
||||||||
Net recurrent income 2014
|
$ Total
|
$ Per
student
|
|||||||||
Australian Government recurrent
funding
|
1,346,008
|
9,970
|
|||||||||
State/territory government recurrent
funding
|
540,393
|
4,003
|
|||||||||
Fees, charges and parent
contributions
|
150,565
|
1,115
|
|||||||||
Other private sources
|
56,717
|
420
|
|||||||||
2,093,683
|
15,509
|
||||||||||
Net recurrent income 2014
|
$ Total
|
$ Per student
|
||||||||||
Australian Government recurrent
funding
|
366,999
|
1,932
|
||||||||||
State/territory government recurrent
funding
|
1,738,097
|
9,148
|
||||||||||
Fees, charges and parent
contributions
|
61,132
|
322
|
||||||||||
Other private sources
|
42,194
|
222
|
||||||||||
Total gross income
(excluding income from government capital grants) |
2,208,421
|
11,623
|
||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.