School spends on your kids

THE state government spends a whopping $671m a year to run Gold Coast schools but elite private schools are spend double per pupil as other schools to educate students.

Federal government figures show St Hilda’s School in Southport, which caters for girls from prep to year 12, spent an average of $30,084 per student in 2020.

In contrast, the MySchool figures show $11,555 per pupil was spent at the popular Picinic Creek State School in Pimpama, while Pacific Pines State

High School spent an average of $13,200 each to educate its 1836 students.

The high spend at St Hilda’s, a school which has built a storeyed reputation since its 1912 founding, was made possible by more than $17 million collected from fees, charges and parent contributions. Fees at the school range from $13,005 at prep level to $21,317 for Years 10-12.

The school also pulled in more than $14m from the Federal government and $2.6 million from the state.

After deductions for debt servicing and money allocated to capital projects it left the school with a net income of $33.3m.

High per pupil amounts were also spent at Mudgeeraba’s Somerset College ($25,382), The Southport School ($23,314) and Aquinas College in Ashmore ($21,840).

Many state schools were not far behind. Queensland Academy for Health Sciences in Southport spent $21,839 per pupil, Coomera State School $20,852 and Elanora State High School $18,105.

Palm Beach-Currumbin State High School, which is renowned as a “destination school” for its academic, sport and arts achievements, had an income of almost $36.2m.

The bulk of PBC’s funding came from the state, which provided more than $25 million of the total, allowing it to spend $13,943 per pupil.

A spokesman for the Department of Education told the Bulletin it was part of a record $671 million spent on 69 Gold Coast state schools that year.

“The state portion of operating funding for these schools totalled over $671 million. The state also provided these schools with capital funding of more than $99 million,” the spokesperson said.

Data from the Report on Government Services (RoGS) shows real federal/state spending in Queensland’s state schools increased by 11 per cent from an average of $17,963 per student in 2015–16 to $19,932 in 2019–20.

The Department of Education spokesman said a substantial amount had also been spent to build new schools and refurbishing others.

“Since 2015, the Queensland Government has invested over half a billion dollars in state school facilities on the Gold Coast, including five new schools, numerous new learning centres and additional classrooms and other capital works investment to improve and enhance educational facilities,” they said.

THE STATE PORTION OF OPERATING FUNDING FOR THESE SCHOOLS TOTALLED OVER $671 MILLION. THE STATE ALSO PROVIDED THESE SCHOOLS WITH CAPITAL FUNDING OF MORE THAN $99 MILLION DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION