An unexpected report that might cause some to rethink their support for the status quo in funding norms.
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Unexpected but sadly not that surprising - religion, politics, money, power - a marriage made in heaven or do I repeat myself? … I note the national figures do not include all locations, but that’s not surprising either.
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I should have qualified the contents of the report were not unexpected, just that the report itself is whereby an open kimono on the inner workings of what is held up to be affordable and egalitarian private schooling seems revealed as a myth, at least ‘there’.
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Nothing wrong in repeating oneself. You are not the first. It’s worth restating as often as necessary.
”I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man’s reasoning powers are not above the monkey’s.” –Mark Twain
Apologies for any implied insult to the relative intellect of monkeys.
Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (a Presbyterian) reflecting on how Christianity was functioning -
“If Christ were here, there is one thing he would not be – a Christian,” he wrote in “Mark Twain’s Notebook.”
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Why would they do such a thing? To keep up the numbers in wealthy suburbs they subsidise the fees because if they charged based on socio-economic level they fear the higher fees will cause a loss of pupils to the public system.
So we see the system being protected by the bishops at the expense of the common people and, despite calls for transparency in the distribution of public funds, it is done in secret.
Now where have we seen that happen before? Oh yes, so many sexual predators who were protected in secrecy by the hierarchy for decades at the expense of the victims, their families and the community generally.
There is something wrong with a culture that consistently ranks maintenance and protection of the organisation above the stated purposes and values of that organisation.
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You have nailed it.
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We are part of a very low SES school community. Its probably a bit of a humblebrag, but even though we could afford a private school, we feel an obligation to be a part of this school and do our best (through participation, fundraising and contributions) to make it better for the other children who don’t have a choice.
One of the worst elements of school funding I’ve come across is Census Day. The school is funded only for the number of students who attend on Census day. For a school with typically very low regular attendance this is a nightmare - the school can end up self-funding (which in this instance where a high number of parents dont pay fees at all stretching what they are given) up to a quarter the total enrollment. Our leadership team has lots of tricks up their sleeve to encourage families and children to attend on census day, but it still leaves the school very under-resourced.
One amazing thing I have discovered is that every single one of the staff are there not for the money or the accolades, but because they also want to make a difference. Despite being under-resourced, old (majority of classrooms built in the 60s with all the things that go with that), and a school that has children from very difficult and very diverse backgrounds, it is a beautiful school full of happy, well behaved, kids.
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In light of the funding misappropriation revalations, it is interesting to look back on the folowing articles
From the SMH March 2018:
Secret records: How Catholic educators shift money to wealthier schools
Sydney Morning Herald January 2019 (Catholic Schools get a highest proportion of their target funding followed by private schools and then by public schools):
Questions loom over legal validity of school funding
from Save Our Schools Australia March 2019:
Govt. Concealing Catholic Schools’ Use of Taxpayer Funds
There is a lot more information available on how the the Catholic Education system has been less than truthfull for a long time.
Is it time that religious based schools had to meet the same requirements, eg transparency, as other schools?
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You pay “more” taxes based on your income; that is equitable. Being subsidised simply because you can afford a private school is grossly inequitable. Just because someone can afford a ‘luxury’ car does not mean that the government should subsidise it!
The government is committed to providing FREE education in state schools. To penalise state schools while throwing money at private schools is both ludicrous and grossly inequitable.
BTW, I attended a wealthy private school (actually a “public” school) in Melbourne back when “tied grants” were being introduced. Prior to that, no private school received any government money at all, and they seemed to survive just fine.
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I’m afraid we will have to agree to disagree. I do not see the government payments as a subsidy. I see it as the government’s contribution to a child’s schooling. The amount per child for private schools is, as I understand it, less than the amount provided per child for government schools. I think that the whole government education sector needs to be looked at, there are too many poor teachers who can’t be removed because:
i) there are not enough good teachers to replace them, and
ii) the unions protect them.
I rather do something about that than worry about how much is being given to private schools who don’t appear to have the same constraints.
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I agree. If it was a subsidy, then every child who goes to either a government or privately owned school would equally receive a subsidy. The child doesn’t receive a subsidy. The government provides funds for the child’s education irrespective of the parent’s choice to the type of education system they wish their child to be education in.
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Why pick on teachers, public or private? I’ve a close family member who has been teaching for 40 years in both, the pay is not that different. It does not reward experience, leaving many of the better more experienced teachers to look elsewhere outside of teaching. Without that depth of retained experience and reward, who is there to help all teachers be better teachers.
Why would a teacher prefer a private school position?
Because the private schools have much better resources, and dare I say it a narrower cross section of the student community to work with. Private schools also typically demand much more out of school hours some say than State run schools. But then with the exception of Catholic education, a private school teacher is far less likely to be working at Lochardt River or Aurukun. (Cape York)
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I’ll just have to be on record as disagreeing because when ‘contributions’ to education are level, those who have more can do more because they are willing to pay more. Live in a poor family in a disadvantaged area and that brollie might be necessary in the rainy seas, indoors. The ‘other side’ might be stocking up on pool filters courtesy of taxpayers.
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Many of us have been calling for “fee charging schools to not receive government funding (fed & state & local)” for quite a while.
Piccoli’s proposal that non-government schools, in return for full public funding, would be subject to the same rules as government schools: (1) prohibition on charging fees, and (2) required to enrol all comers.
… or as the Gonski paper puts it, “A public charter of operation and obligations needs to apply equally to all funded schools.”
Imagine primary schools and pre-schools which have to accept enrolments regardless of religion or culture; and which cannot expel or exclude a student without going through the rigorous processes that government schools already have to follow.
Would the religious schools agree to this? Would the non-religious commercially-run schools agree to this?
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Part of the funding problem is mentioned in the final paragraph, relating back to the tax base where federal has more tax authority than state; Federal is happy to fund the private system while telling the states to top off their part of they want to.
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Among the myriad new special deals for private schools that are not available for public schools is a slush fund called the Choice and Affordability Fund worth $1.2 billion over the next 10 years, some $172 million for schools to transition to the new funding method and $46 million for ACT private schools to adjust to higher levels of funding….yes, really! Private schools will also receive an additional $30 million in funding in 2020 for drought and Covid-19 assistance.
Truckloads of pork!
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Anyone for rock lobster and wagyu eye fillet?
Australian school students:
66% attend government run schools,
19% attend Catholic Education run schools,
15% attend other denominational and privately run schools
Accessibility?
Equivalence of outcomes?
Value for money? (Personal expense vs public expense)
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Total rubbish. As a school principal in the public system I found very few teachers who were sub-standard and if they were then managing poor performance was available. Let’s bash a teacher!
I must also say that I had people commenting about teacher holidays. Their comments were that teachers did not start till 8:45 and finished by 3:30 and had 10 weeks holiday. What I used to respond with was, “Well go to Uni for 4 years, and you too can have these privileges.” The response was always, “No way!”
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I don’t know any teachers who work these hours. They are the face-to-face hours but as you would know, on top of that is preparation, marking, admin, training, extra-curricular activities (like school plays, playground duty, camps/excursions, fetes and fairs etc.)
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I know, but I got tired of pointing out to people when teachers really began so I decided the response I gave was better.
