Church-run primary schools don’t need $4.6b in funding, says expert

CATHOLIC schools need less than a 10th of the $4.6 billion in funding Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to give private schools to maintain affordable choices for parents, an analysis has found.

Grattan Institute education expert Peter Goss has predicted Catholic primary schools could afford to keep fees low for less advantaged families for just $3 million to $4 million a year.

“The Government has cho- sen to subsidise fees for all of the students,” Dr Goss said.

“Rather than doing that, Catholic schools could keep fees low just for the families who aren’t advantaged — for less than a 10th of the price.

“They could find that $3-4 million from their own funds, they don’t need an extra slush fund.”

Dr Goss said just 30 Catholic primary schools across Australia would have faced fee increases of more than $4000 a year as a result of a new funding model that assesses parents’ income to determine how much federal funding schools should receive.

He found that the median income of families at those schools was more than $200,000 and just one in 100 of their students were considered less advantaged than average.

The analysis comes as federal Education Minister Dan Tehan tries to convince his state counterparts of the mer- its of the $4.6 billion private school funding deal.

Mr Tehan will meet this week with NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes, who has been a vocal opponent of the Morrison government’s deal, saying it’s unfair to other schools.

Under the deal, the Federal Government will provide Catholic and independent schools with $3.2 billion over 10 years to ease the transition to the new funding model, and a further $1.2 billion to “address specific challenges” in those schools.

Mr Tehan is confident the states and territories will be on board with the funding deal and expects to smooth over issues with Mr Stokes by pointing to record funding for NSW state schools.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to work all that through and make sure we get an outcome which is all about the kids in NSW,” he said yesterday.

However, Mr Stokes says his position has not changed, calling for a solution that maximises funding for students in Catholic, independent and public schools.

“In NSW, we have held firm with the Gonski principles of needs-based, sector-blind funding — meaning funding based on the needs of each student, regardless of where they live or what school they attend,” he said.