Ministers let Commonwealth off the hook

by Angelo Gavrielatos

State and territory education ministers have demanded that the Federal Government give all public school students the same level of funding offered to the richest private schools, in effect letting the Federal Government off the hook over properly resourcing public schools.

Public school students continue to receive the least amount of funding from the Commonwealth when compared to private schools.

The demand was made when the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) met in Sydney on April 23.

If the Federal Government was to agree to this proposition, it would result in an extra $3 billion over the 2005-2008 funding period.

The 2004 Productivity Commission Report on Government Services shows that in 2001-2002, before the greatest increases in funding to private schools, the Howard Government gave $3583 per private school student compared with only $887 per public school student, that is $2696 more per private school student.

There are about 2.25 million students enrolled in public schools nationwide. If each student received that $2696 per year, an additional $6 billion would be spent on public school students per year.

In NSW, where about 750,000 students are enrolled in public schools, it would represent an additional $2 billion per annum spent on public schools.

The state and territory ministers also called on the Federal Government to come clean on its policy which maintains the funding for more than 50 per cent of private schools at a higher rate than the funding formula, if applied "properly", would allow for. The outcome of this policy is that over the period 2005-2008, the Commonwealth will spend an extra $2 billion on private schools over and above their funding "entitlement".

Federation welcomes the debate initiated by the state and territory ministers in demanding additional funding for public school students at the same level as the richest private schools, however, the state and territory ministers' demand does not match the significant need for greater funding in public schools and lets the Commonwealth off the hook.

Angelo Gavrielatos is the Senior Vice President.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005