School funding revamp face-off
A WAR of words has broken out between the Catholic and independent school sectors after the Federal Government unveiled a long-awaited proposal to overhaul private school funding.
Victoria’s Catholic schools have called for an end to the Government’s “sweetheart deal with the wealthiest independent schools”, while independent schools urged it not to succumb to political pressure by seeking a “quick fix”.
Catholic schools are potentially in line for a $100 million windfall under the shake-up to education funding, which would see the income and census data of parents collected to determine how much money goes to an independent school.
It would be a departure from the system where the socio-economic status of the suburb of each school is looked at to determine funding level.
The Government has yet to formally support the proposal — recommended by the independent National School Resourcing Board — and has promised to consult schools before making a final decision.
Catholic schools said the proposal proved the Government’s Gonski 2.0 funding overhaul — which started this year — was flawed.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the option of collecting income details of parents was not available when the Government started its overhaul.
Senator Birmingham said the Government would not adopt any changes before 2020, which would provide schools time to plan.
“Clearly, an income matching approach would in many instances give a more precise measure of a school community’s capacity to contribute than an average census-based data may do so,” he said.
The Catholic sector had argued the method of determining funding short-changed independent schools that took in larger numbers from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Catholic Education Commission of Victoria executive director Stephen Elder said the recommendations vindicated its opposition to the reforms and defence of low-fee schools.
“We’ve argued for a system that ends the Government’s sweetheart deal with the wealthiest independent schools and instead delivers gains to the schools that need support the most — low-fee Christian, Lutheran, Jewish and Islamic schools, not just schools in Catholic systems,” Mr Elder said.
Independent Schools Victoria chief executive Michelle Green said the Government should not rush into a “quick fix” to funding arrangements for non-government schools.
“Any decision to implement the recommendations should be based on the needs of students, rather than appeasing one non-government school sector,” Ms Green said.