How much does your school get in government funds?
Our analysis has revealed just how much money schools in the southeast are receiving from the Commonwealth and the state. And one school raked in more than $100m over three years. See how yours compares.
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One school in Melbourne’s southeast received more than $101 million in state and federal money over three years, the most of any school in Victoria.
But with more than 3000 students — a number climbing steadily every year — across three campuses, St Francis Xavier College is making every dollar count.
Principal Vincent Feeney said the Catholic school was grateful for all government support.
“It sounds like a lot of money but it isn’t because we’ve lucked out or been particularly fortunate — it just comes down to our size,” he said.
With a lot of migrant, refugee and low income families at the school due to its locations in the burgeoning Beaconsfield, Officer and Berwick areas, Mr Feeney said the funding also enabled them to provide a lot of social services for students.
“You could say we’re ‘Johnny-on-the-spot’ here in such a fast-growing area,” he said.
“We not a privileged school but we serve the community well.”
Almost $80 million of the school’s government funding is Commonwealth money.
Generally speaking, the Federal Government is the majority public funder for non-government schools and takes into account the capacity for parents to contribute to costs, such as the capacity to pay school fees.
This kind of government contribution for non-government schools can only be used for operational costs, such as staff salaries.
Leader can reveal government funding for schools between 2015-17 can be revealed after an independent compilation of figures from the MySchool website.
Of the most recent figures available, Dandenong High School received the second highest amount of combined government funding in southeast Melbourne, at more than $78.2 million over the three years.
Padua College, in Mornington, was the third highest with $77.8 million.
At the other end of the scale, Le Page Primary School in Cheltenham received the least government funding over the three-year period.
But with just 35 students in 2017, the tiny school received the most funding per student — $23,283 — in the area.
During the 2015-17 financial years, Haileybury College, which has campuses in Keysborough, Brighton, Berwick and the CBD, spent the most on capital expenditure — $87.9 million — than any other school in the southern region.
Principal Derek Scott said the majority of the school’s capital expenditure in 2015-18 went towards buying and developing its new campus in the city, Melbourne’s first vertical school.
Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan said the government’s Our Quality Schools package would see $310 billion provided to schools across the country to 2029.
Region’s most funded schools
St Francis Xavier College, Beaconsfield: $101 million
Dandenong High School: $78.2 million
Padua College: $77.8 million
Haileybury College: $69.7 million
Minaret College: $64.3 million
Keysborough Secondary College: $63.5 million
McKinnon Secondary College: $58.8 million
Flinders Christian Community College: $56 million
Frankston High School: $54.7 million
St Peter’s College: $54.6 million
Mornington Secondary College: $49.9 million
Region’s least funded schools
Le Page Primary School: $2.2 million
St Aloysius’ School: $3.1 million
Karingal Heights Primary School: $3.9 million
Melbourne Montessori School: $3.9 million
Tyabb Railway Station Primary School: $4.1 million
Wallaroo Primary School: $4.1 million
Clayton South Primary School: $4.3 million
Divrei Emineh: $4.4 million
Sholem Aleichem College: $4.6 million
St Kevin’s School: $4.7 million
Region’s schools with the highest capital expenditure
Haileybury College: $87.9 million
Caulfield Grammar School: $87.7 million
Wesley College: $69.9 million
Mentone Grammar School: $40.9 million
St Peter’s College: $23.6 million
St Michael’s Grammar School: $22.3 million
St Leonard’s College: $21.7 million
Firbank Grammar School: $14.5 million
Dandenong High School: $13 million
Yeshivah College: $13.4 million