Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With the federal budget process in progress, I advocate for strong continued federal funding support for independent schools within my electorate of Moore. The Independent Schools Council of Australia is calling on the government to provide clarity on school funding arrangements for 2018 so that independent schools have the capacity to plan their operations going forward with confidence.

Australian school education is supported by three major funding sources—namely, the federal government, state and territory governments, and the parents of students. School funding is a shared-responsibility model where the Commonwealth is the majority funder of non-government schools, and the states and territories are the primary funders of government schools. Some 34.9 per cent of students around Australia are enrolled in independent schools, yet they receive only 22.4 per cent of recurrent education funding. The independent school sector relies primarily on parents to fund schools, with 58 per cent of recurrent income coming from private sources.

We are fortunate to have a number of outstanding local independent schools in our community, including St Stephen's School, St Mark's Anglican Community School, Sacred Heart College, Mater Dei College, Lake Joondalup Baptist College, Prendiville Catholic College, St Simon Peter Catholic Primary School, Francis Jordan Catholic School, Padbury Catholic Primary School, Whitford Catholic Primary School, St Luke's Catholic Primary School and the Montessori School in Kingsley. In particular, I acknowledge the Anglican Schools Commission, Catholic Education of WA, the Baptist Church and the Uniting Church for establishing low-fee schools in our area.

Many hardworking parents in my electorate choose to make the necessary sacrifice and commitment to providing the best possible education they can afford for their children. They are by no means wealthy, working long hours and forgoing luxuries to send their children to a private school. Ninety per cent of independent schools charge low to medium fees, with the median fee being $4,800. The average Australian government recurrent funding per school student is $7,940 for independent schools and $9,750 for Catholic schools, compared with $16,180 for government schools. So, on average, independent schools receive around half the level of government funding of public schools. The contribution of these parents towards the cost of their children's education ought to be recognised. It has been estimated that, if all independent-school students were to transfer to the public system, it would cost both the state and federal governments an additional $4.3 billion per annum.

In addition, parents contribute substantially to the cost of providing school buildings. On average, 86 per cent of capital funding for independent schools is contributed by parents and school communities through fees, building fund levies, targeted fundraising and donations. In 2014, parents contributed over $855 million for capital development of independent schools.

For decades the Commonwealth government funding for non-government schools has been based on need. Different funding models over that time have changed the way need is assessed. For some schools this means that their Commonwealth funding entitlement will be reduced. This was the case for a number of local schools with the introduction of the Schooling Resource Standard or Gonski funding model, which came into effect in 2014. Currently, considerable uncertainty attaches to arrangements for non-government school funding beyond 2017.

Government schools are entitled to the full amount of the SRS. The SRS amount for non-government schools is adjusted according to the measure of 'capacity to contribute', which is determined by a measure of the school community's socioeconomic status. Schools with a higher SES score will receive a lower level of per capita base funding. This has been the case for a number of schools in my electorate.

According to the Independent Schools Council of Australia, it is predicted that independent school enrolments will grow by 18 per cent to 2025. Growth in the sector requires not just the building of new schools but also the refurbishment or expansion of existing facilities, the replacement of out-of-date materials and upgrades to equipment to meet the changing curricula and expanded courses. I make the case for strong federal government funding support for independent schools in the upcoming federal budget.