CATHOLIC WEEKLY REPORT: The time is right for a new funding formula for schools, says Dr Dan White, executive director of Catholic schools in the Sydney archdiocese, as long as any new model has equity excellence and choice as its guiding principles and is not driven by any “particular ideology”.
“It is to be expected that the recommendations arising out of the Gonski review into school funding will involve changes to the current school funding mechanism,” he said.
“While the current formula was a genuine attempt to blend together many funding components to create a system that was fair to all, it is conceptually flawed and, as a result, overly complex and confusing.
“With this in mind I would welcome a revised school funding model that simplifies the process, as long as the total funding for Catholic schools is not reduced in real terms.
“Catholic systemic schools already receive total less funding on a per student basis than government schools, and it would be grossly unfair to consider reducing that even further.”
What matters above most, he said, “is that all students – regardless of what kind of school they attend – have access to a quality education that is appropriately funded by governments”.
The Australian newspaper reports the Federal Government is set to revamp aspects of the current funding model.
School Education Minister Peter Garrett said that the current arrangement had “reached its ‘use by’ date”.
The current model for funding non-government schools, based on the socioeconomic status of a school’s students, was introduced in 2001 and initially only covered independent schools.
The Catholic school system signed up in 2004 to a deal that maintained the relative funding levels of its schools. Most Catholic schools have had their funding maintained in real terms since.
Dr White said any reduction in funding in real terms to Catholic schools would place many families in real financial hardship.
“It is to be expected that the recommendations arising out of the Gonski review into school funding will involve changes to the current school funding mechanism,” he said.
“While the current formula was a genuine attempt to blend together many funding components to create a system that was fair to all, it is conceptually flawed and, as a result, overly complex and confusing.
“With this in mind I would welcome a revised school funding model that simplifies the process, as long as the total funding for Catholic schools is not reduced in real terms.
“Catholic systemic schools already receive total less funding on a per student basis than government schools, and it would be grossly unfair to consider reducing that even further.”
What matters above most, he said, “is that all students – regardless of what kind of school they attend – have access to a quality education that is appropriately funded by governments”.
The Australian newspaper reports the Federal Government is set to revamp aspects of the current funding model.
School Education Minister Peter Garrett said that the current arrangement had “reached its ‘use by’ date”.
The current model for funding non-government schools, based on the socioeconomic status of a school’s students, was introduced in 2001 and initially only covered independent schools.
The Catholic school system signed up in 2004 to a deal that maintained the relative funding levels of its schools. Most Catholic schools have had their funding maintained in real terms since.
Dr White said any reduction in funding in real terms to Catholic schools would place many families in real financial hardship.
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