Private school funding not all enrolment driven

by Sally Edsall

One of the attempted justifications which the Federal Government uses to explain massive funding increases to private schools over the past decade is the line that it is all enrolment driven.

They say funding has increased because enrolments have gone up.

But what if there were schools which had falling enrolments, and yet funding had increased? Wouldn't that mean it was just a public policy decision?

Here's an example of where that has happened.

Figures from the State Government show that in 1996 Newington College in Sydney had an enrolment of 1640 students, and in 2006, 1503 students. This was a decline of 8.3 per cent. What happened to funding during that period?

In 1996 the Federal Government provided $1,062,706 in recurrent funding to Newington. In 2005 (the latest year for which there are accurate figures) this had risen to $3,552,357, an increase of 234 per cent.

During the same period, enrolments in NSW public schools went from 761,037 to 740,415, a decline of 2.7 per cent. Federal Government recurrent funding to NSW public schools went from $216,036,920 to $536,443,070 between 1996 and 2005 -- an increase of 148 per cent.

This contrast is illustrated in the graphs (see attachment).

Another way of demonstrating this is to look at a comparison between the average per student amount spent on a public school student compared to a private school student.

In 1996, for every $1 spent on a public school student, $4.40 was spent on an average private school student. In 2005 for every $1 spent on a public school student, this had increased to $5.63 per student in a private school.

This single example is replicated across Australia and demonstrates the bias the Howard Government has shown towards private schools through their policy position.

Sally Edsall is a Research Officer.

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