Funding model punishes non-government schools
During the last election campaign, then opposition leader Anthony Albanese presented himself as a moderate and assured voters that, if elected prime minister, he would steer the middle course and not succumb to left extremism.
The public now knows Albanese was hiding his true intent. Pushing the Voice during his victory speech, radicalising industrial relations laws and pushing deep green climate alarmism prove Albanese remains true to his radical student days.
Seeking to reduce funding to nongovernment schools, making it inevitable parents will be forced to pay more, reducing school autonomy over enrolments and staffing and promoting the politics of envy is the most recent battleground.
Just before Christmas the commonwealth education minister Jason Clare released a report he had commissioned titled Improving Outcomes For All, examining the best way to ensure a better and fairer education system.
The report’s suggestions about how to improve equity are clearly directed at increasing funding to government schools at the expense of Catholic and Independent schools, in the mistaken belief that non-government schools are over-funded as students’ parents are wealthy and privileged.
The danger for non-government schools is state, territory and commonwealth governments, most of which are ALP, are involved in putting together a new National School Reform Agreement next year.
As well as the reform agreement detailing strategies and policies about how best to raise standards and improve equity, it will also have a major influence on the amount of money invested in education systems across Australia and the amount received by individual government and non-government schools.
Based on Clare’s response to the report he commissioned, where he argues there is a growing gap between rich and poor “largely as a result of segregation of children based on wealth into non-government and government schools”, it’s clear what the Government intends to do.
Mirroring the NSW Teachers Federation’s perennial attacks on non-government schools and research undertaken by Trevor Cobbold, a staunch opponent of school choice, any new national agreement will most likely financially penalise Catholic and Independent schools and restrict parental choice.
The likelihood the politics of envy will prevail is increased as critics always argue non-government schools, compared to government schools, are over-funded based on the criteria established by the 2011 Gonski school funding report.
The only problem is the criteria used to distribute funding to schools, described as the Schooling Resource Standard, is all smoke and mirrors and bears no relationship to what is actually required to ensure students receive a rigorous, worthwhile education.
It’s also true how well a school performs and whether students are successful has little to do with the amount of funding received. Overseas students in top performing systems outperform Australian students with less expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product.
Parents financially sacrificing to pay school fees, as well as taxes, save governments billions every year. Non-government schools also achieve better results compared to most government schools.
Dr Kevin Donnelly is a senior fellow at the ACU’s PM Glynn Institute.