Victoria’s academic rates are falling. Why, then, are parents paying some of the heftiest school fees in Australia?

Academic levels in Victoria are declining. Yet, parents are still forking out thousands in school fees — more than almost every other state.

Victorian parents are forking out almost $4000 a year in school fees, a new report has found.

Cash-strapped Victorian parents are forking out almost $4000 a year in school fees, paying the second-highest amount in the country despite declining academic levels, new data shows.

The financial burden borne by parents comes as Victorian students at public schools continue to attract the lowest level of government funding per student in the nation, according to the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority’s (ACARA) National Report of Schooling.

It report shows Victoria is the most costly destination for private schooling, with parents paying $15,764 per student in fees – more than $3000 above the national average.

Victoria is the most costly destination for private schooling.

Meanwhile, parents paid $592 per student to send their child to a government school, which is the second highest behind South Australia and $178 more than New South Wales.

This is despite parents at public schools having the option to pay voluntary fee contributions, which they can’t be penalised for if they don’t choose to pay.

Victorian parents from all school sectors paid $3977 per student in fees in 2023, which is $626 higher than the national average and $174 less than the ACT, which is the most expensive place for an education.

Catholic school fees are also the second-highest in the country – narrowly behind the ACT – with each student contributing $5054 to the sector.

The hip-pocket hit comes as state and federal government funding for Victoria’s public schools is the lowest nationally, with $17,904 spent per student.

This figure is well behind the Northern Territory which received $27,260 per student and $1524 below the national average.

Federal and state government funding for Victoria’s public schools is the second-lowest nationally.

Government expenditure on public school redundancies was also the highest in the county, with $2.2m spent paying out teacher and education staff despite their being critical shortages.

Victorian school vacancies surged to almost 3100 in September 2023, which was three times higher than the beginning of term one that year.

There were 2088 teaching jobs advertised by the Department of Education at the time, among other vacancies for education support staff, learning specialists and leading teachers.

The report also found private schools attempted to grapple with rising debts by doubling the amount spent on debt servicing since 2017, with $104m allocated towards repayments.

This figure is the highest in a decade and second highest in the country behind NSW in 2023.

The new funding revelations come as Victorian students have sunk to new academic lows, with more than four in ten pupils in grades three and nine struggling to use punctuation such as commas, full stops and quotation marks, according to NAPLAN data.

Overall, nearly one in three – almost 300,000 students – are failing to meet basic standards in English and maths.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said it was unacceptable families should have to pay more to educate their children, compared to the rest of the country.

“For a decade, the Victorian Labor Government has failed to meet its Student Resource Package funding obligations which means higher costs for families and poorer educational opportunities for students,” she said.

A Victorian government spokeswoman said: “Public schools are free, and they’ll stay that way – and no child can be disadvantaged or refused instruction regardless of payment.”

Originally published as Victoria’s academic rates are falling. Why, then, are parents paying some of the heftiest school fees in Australia?