Taxpayers fork out $11k a year for every Gold Coast student, figures reveal

Taxpayers are forking out big money each year for schools. Now the cost of educating each Gold Coast student has been calculated, and it’s eye-watering.

TAXPAYERS are forking out on average $11,000 for each and every student on the Gold Coast.

The yearly figure balloons to $27,000 per child to help keep isolated smaller schools operational.

The amount of government funding schools received for each child is gleaned from an independent compilation of figures from the MySchool website.

It was the smaller schools in the Gold Coast Hinterland and Scenic Rim that brought in the highest amount of funding per child as costs to run the school are spread among a handful of students.

A single student costs an average of $11,000. Picture Glenn Hampson

Numinbah Valley State School, home to 14 students, had the highest average among Gold Coast schools in 2017 – $27,198 per student.

Springbrook State School came in at $22,691 and the speciality public school Queensland Academy for Health Sciences in Southport at $18,261.

Independent schools received a smaller portion of government funding, averaging $9914.70 per student.

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Catholic schools received $10,272.77 per student and public schools, $12,400.74.

Saint Stephen’s College was the least funded on the Gold Coast on average, receiving $8145 per student.

When it came to spending on new buildings and facilities it was the larger private schools that rated highest.

The funding numbers skyrocket for smaller schools. Picture Glenn Hampson

In the three financial years since 2017, The Southport School spent $23.8 million on capital expenditure, more than any other school in the Gold Coast region.

The new Pimpama State Secondary College spent $9.3 million on capital works in the same three-year period, the highest rate for a government state school.

Somerset College headmaster Craig Bassingthwaighte said the $21 million in capital spending by his school in the past three years included the “rebuild” of the performing arts centre, a new design centre and expanding classroom capacity.

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Mr Bassingthwaighte said the master plan was funded by parents and other revenue streams.

“What people don’t understand is all of our capital projects come from revenue generated by parents, we get no capital grants from any government authorities,” he said.

“So everything that we do in that space has to come from our funding sources. Really, there is no capacity for anything that isn’t needed.”

John Phelan, a spokesman for Catholic Education Queensland, said despite common perceptions catholic schools were rarely over funded.

“The first point we make is that we try to keep school fees to the lowest possible level,” he said. “We know a lot of our parents are doing it hard financially, (we want) to keep schools accessible to the greatest number.

“Catholic schools are operating on less overall. Average income is significantly below average income per capita than at state schools — all private schools are not in the same boat.”