Clash over schools cash

GEELONG’S elite private schools received a combined $30 million in Federal Government funding in 2015, despite raking in more than $80 million in fees alone.

A new Save Our Schools (SOS) report claims average overall funding for Australian private schools rose by 6 per cent between 2012-16, but the rise for public schools for the same period was just 2.5 per cent.

“The Commonwealth increase for private schools since 2009-10 was double that for public schools — $1050 per student in private schools compared to $503 in public schools,” SOS national convener Trevor Cobbold said.

“State and territory funding for public schools fell by $591 per student but increased by $116 per student for private schools.”

MySchools website data shows Geelong Grammar School received more than $6 million in Federal Government funding in 2016, more than $1 million in State Government funding, more than $27 million from fees and close to $3 million from other private sources.

Geelong College was funded more than $7 million by the Federal Government, received just over $965,000 from the State Government, raked in more than $26 million in fees and received just over $2 million through other private sources.

Kardinia International College received the highest level of funding — with $11 million handed out in 2015.

Geelong Christian College received more than $6 million in federal funding but had a gross income more than $10 million lower than Geelong College, Geelong Grammar and Kardinia International College.

Mr Cobbold said many private schools in Victoria were “chronically overfunded”.

The estimated Schooling Resource Standard, recommended by the Gonski Review, is $9271 per primary school student and $12,193 per high school student.

Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) last week released a report claiming the federal Coalition was spending $747 million each year funding wealthy pri- vate schools that already meet their school resourcing standard from their own revenue sources.

“The Prime Minister and his Education Minister, Simon Birmingham, say that their main objective in funding schools is to improve educational outcomes,” CECV executive director Stephen Elder said.

“This research shows that $747 million each year is being handed to wealthy schools that don’t need it — where it won’t improve outcomes.”

But Independent Schools Victoria (ISV) claimed com- ments by the Catholic education sector aimed to “pit one school sector against another”.

ISV chief executive Michelle Green accused the CECV of calling for total reform of all school funding models.

“In calling for some independent schools to be stripped of all government funding, these tactics amount to an attack on a fundamental principle of school funding that has endured for more than half a century — that all students, regardless of school, should receive some level of government funding,” Ms Green said.