Public-private funding row reignites as disadvantaged fall behind

Experts have slammed the way Qld’s private and public schools are funded with taxpayer cash. HAVE YOUR SAY

• Results v fees: How Qld’s most elite schools rank
• Revealed: Inside Qld’s strictest schools

Some of Queensland’s most disadvantaged children could fall years behind their peers and never catch up, while hordes of teachers could be lost to private sectors without full funding for public schools by 2025, new research has claimed.

The warning comes amid debate over how Australia’s public school system is funded, with experts claiming its one of the most unequal in the developed world.

A joint paper by leading education experts in Pasi Sahlberg and Caitlin Senior of the University of Melbourne and Save our Schools national convener Trevor Cobbold called for a commitment to fully fund public schools by 2025.

The research claimed that government funding had increased three times as much per student (about $3000) for private primary schools as it did for public primary schools (about $1000) over 2009 and 2021, figures which were adjusted for inflation.

That’s despite the public system doing the bulk of the heavy lifting for disadvantaged students which includes Indigenous, students with a disability and those living in remote areas.

The paper found the achievement gaps between children from advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds could differ by as much as two years of learning by Year 5 with widening gaps in numeracy, literacy, reading, spelling and writing.

Change in total government funding of primary schools per student by state and territory from 2009 to 2021 (adjusted for inflation). Source: Research by education experts Pasi Sahlberg and Caitlin Senior (University of Melbourne) and Save Our Schools' Trevor Cobbold.

Queensland Association of State School Principals president Pat Murphy said the research showed how vital it was for public primary schools to be fully funded by 2025.

Mr Murphy said the inequitable distribution of government funding was fuelling the gaps wider, rather than narrowing them.

“The evidence suggests that these kids generally don’t catch up, and the upcoming PISA tests will demonstrate that,” Mr Murphy said.

“These kids are missing out on the one-on-one support they need, the allied health services they need. They need that really strong early intervention.

“School refusal will increase too. It’s already two out of five students. School needs to be made enjoyable for them. They’re not waging, it’s students who tell their parents they don’t want to go. Anxiety is a big one.”

Mr Murphy predicted the ongoing teacher crisis would continue to worsen, with many state school educators lured away to more lucrative private school roles.

“Teachers will be dragged to where the money is,” he said.

“You could have a teacher with such love and passion for the job, but if there is a pull where more money is going to be offered to best look after their families.

“Certainly we have seen private schools offering different settings for teachers that the public system can’t.”

The Schooling Resource Standard was a key recommendation by the Gonski Review to determine the minimum level of funding necessary for each school or system to meet the needs of their students.

The current bilateral agreements between the Federal Government and each state and territory which specify the share of the Schooling Resource Standard each agreed to contribute, will expire at the end of 2024.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has recommitted to closing the education gap with the new set of agreements next year, and ensuring every school gets all its fair funding level.

A review into the SRS is currently under way and is set to be discussed at the next Education Ministers Meeting on December 11.