Non-Government Schools Save Taxpayers $5 Billion

The Age, Adam Norton, 20 August 2007; The Australian, Justine Ferrari, 20 August 2007; the australian, Editorial, 22 August 2007

 

New research conducted by independent Canberra economist Matthew Ryan, ‘Public Funding of Australian Schools:
The Facts’, shows that parents who send their children to non-government schools save taxpayers $5 billion a year.

Matthew Ryan, past General Manager of the Domestic Economy Division of the Federal Treasury and chair of the Commonwealth Government’s Joint Economic Forecasting Group, says non-government schools are being
discriminated against.

Commissioned by the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV) and launched by the Federal Minister
for Education, Science and Training, Ms Julie Bishop, the research and analysis, is based on publicly available data
from 2004-05. AISV chief executive Michelle Green said the debate over school funding was clouded by ‘ignorance, misunderstanding and wilful distortion of facts.’

Ms Green goes on to say that AISV commissioned this independent research to ‘examine not just who gets what
money from which government, but also to provide the context for this funding. This independent analysis…aims to
make a significant, useful and lasting contribution to the debate.’

The research shows the total and combined amount of government funding given to the different education sectors
from federal, state and territory governments.

Victoria's government schools receive $754 per student from the Federal Government and non-government schools receive $4340. However, the situation changes when state government funding is added: government schools receive $8359 for each student and non-government schools receive $5451. When other factors are included, public funding for government schools in Victoria totals $9,700 per student,compared with $5637 for each student at a non-government school in Victoria.

In the 2004 federal election, a hit-list of seemingly wealthy non-government schools was targeted by the Australian
Labor Party (ALP). The ALP has stated that they have abandoned this policy for the upcoming 2007 federal election.

Ms Green says the independent sector is ‘less worried about which school gets how much, and more concerned that
all schools - government and non-government - should have the money needed to provide the best educational
standards and values for students.’

 

 

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