Implications of the New Gonski Model for School Funding

“I want to begin by saying that education funding in Australia

can be characterised as a dog’s breakfast.”
(Education Minister Peter Garrett)

This is perhaps not Minister Peter Garrett’s most eloquent quote about the current nature of funding for schools, but it does convey something of the complexity of the current funding arrangements.

Earlier this week, I was asked in a radio interview about how independent schools might be affected by the proposed recommendations of the Gonski Review of Funding for Schools. While there is a simple response to this question, there is also a longer and more complicated response. The simple response is, “It depends”.

The new Gonski model of recurrent funding by both the Australian government and state and territory governments is to be based on a new Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). Interestingly, Gonski has worked this new Schooling Resource Standard to be very similar to the current model, which is based on $8000 per student in the primary sector and $10,500 per student in the secondary sector.

Very few independent schools in Queensland would be worse off with the new model – only the largest and wealthiest of schools in Brisbane, for example. In Victoria and New South Wales there is a larger percentage of wealthier independent schools that would be worse off with the new funding model.

For many Queensland independent schools, like Caloundra City Private School, (based on the recommended Gonski model), there would be an increase in recurrent funding depending upon a number of different factors. Each factor is given a loading that increases the level of recurrent funding dependent upon the following factors which are sourced from the data on MySchool:

• the socio-economic background of parents – based on parents’ occupation and level of education – the higher the socio-economic background the smaller the loading, the lower the socio-economic background the higher the loading

• school location and size - for example: large metropolitan schools (no loading), provincial, remote or very remote schools that are small receive increasingly significant loading with greater remoteness and smaller size; and

• schools with student populations of greater disadvantage - for example, a high proportion of non-English speaking families, or indigenous students or students with disabilities will result in higher loadings.

For Caloundra City Private School, based on 2009 data and all of these factors, the School would be entitled to an 11percent increase in our recurrent funding under the new model, meaning that we would be better off with the new model. But (and this is a big BUT), the governments (federal and state) would need to find another $5billion to fund the new model for all schools. In truth, neither federal nor state governments have the necessary funds to finance (in the short term anyway), this additional $5 billion. As Bill Daniels, Executive Director of Independent Schools Australia commented in an interview reported in The Age, Feb 24, 2012:

“The biggest obstacle won’t emerge from within the schooling sector, it will come from Commonwealth-state relations. The Gonski funding model requires a big injection of funding from both levels of government. In a tight fiscal environment a commitment to significant extra funds across nine governments is a big ask.”

Historically, government funding to all schools, has been determined by different models which have lasted on average for between twelve to sixteen years. The current model of funding will be in its twelfth year when it is due to end in 2013. Given the change of government in Queensland and likely changes in government elsewhere, it is highly unlikely that any agreement would be reached by federal and state governments by the 2013 expiry date. Because of this factor alone, it would be more likely that the federal government would simply legislate to extend the current school funding arrangements for at least two to three years. In other words, while there might be general agreement that the new Gonski model would result in greater equity and fairness for school funding, it is not going to see the ‘light of day’ until federal and state governments agree on how it is to be funded.

The media likes to polarise debate on funding to independent schools versus public schools and the politicisation of the debate means that many misconceptions surround school funding. As I pointed out in the radio interview, parents of independent schools pay twice – once when they pay taxes, which help fund all schools and secondly when they pay school fees. Parents in independent schools also make significant contribution to independent schools through the fund raising efforts of the Parents and Friends’ Associations and through other generous donations in dollars or in kind. Parents in independent schools are making an important investment in their child’s future.

Karon Graham