Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

The senator asked a couple of questions relating to the My School website and the school funding estimator. Of course, the My School website provides details of the Commonwealth funding that a state or territory system authority, Catholic school system authority or other school system says it provides to a particular school. It is not necessarily an accurate reflection on the My School website what the federal funding provided to that system authority for the school is; it is simply a reflection of what the system authority, out of their pooled grant of federal funding, provides to that school. I note that historical data on My School also includes other sources of federal funding outside of the direct recurrent school funding arrangements. In relation to the estimator, it has sought to provide the nominal allocation of funding that goes from the Commonwealth to a school or a school system. I note that, in relation to a school system such as the New South Wales government system, the school funding estimator does make clear that, if your school is part of a system—Commonwealth funding is paid to the system as a block—the system will determine the amount your school receives. That, of course, has been the case historically and it continues to be the case.