Federal disability funding for independent, Catholic schools triples in a decade to $2bn

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Federal taxpayers are funding a $2b private school disability scheme, with whistleblowers revealing vulnerable students often do not get the benefit of funding they are allocated and desperately need.

Dubbed “the new NDIS”, disability funding flowing to independent and Catholic schools around the nation has nearly doubled in the last four years, and more than tripled in the past decade.

The national budget for students with a disability at all private schools has ballooned from $674m in 2014 to $1.2b in 2020.

The latest data available shows it hit $2b in 2023.

South Australia’s share grew from $44m to $99m over the same period.

Despite school leaders insisting otherwise, insiders say teachers are under pressure to nominate students under disability categories worth up to $42,000 each, and the money flows based on a tick-box form.

They have raised concerns that there is not enough accountability or transparency about how the funding is used.

More than one in four students across the nation are now deemed to have a disability under the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Children with a Disability (NCCD) which exists in addition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Adelaide private schools with annual year 12 tuition fees of more than $30,000 are receiving generous top-up funds through the scheme, including $1.32m to Scotch College, $1.2m to St Peter’s College, $1.18m to Pembroke School (SA’s most expensive) and $888,354 to Prince Alfred College in 2023.

Federal disability funding for independent, Catholic schools triples in a decade to $2bn.

Other top schools to net more than $1m include St John’s Grammar School ($1.25m) and Westminster School ($1.09m).

Tyndale Christian School, which has four SA campuses, received more than $3.85m.

Autism Goals founder Pauline Aquilina, who advocates for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, said independent and Catholic schools “receive millions in public disability funding with virtually no accountability or obligation to prove it’s reaching the students it’s meant to support”.

“Without mandatory reporting, external audits and real consequences for misuse, we are failing students with disability – both morally and legally,” she said.

Education Minister Jason Clare said new agreements with the states included “accountability and transparency measures” and “any school found to be doing the wrong thing will face serious consequences”.

The NCCD scheme, introduced in 2014, relies on teachers to assess the additional learning requirements of students under different categories, attracting between $5000 and $42,000 in funding depending on the level of need.

Schools need to show a student has had a minimum of ten weeks’ assistance in the previous 12 months in order to qualify.

Parental consent is not required and a student can be given a disability loading even if their parent objects.

Schools are not required to disclose to teachers or parents which children are given funding.

Originally published as Federal disability funding for independent, Catholic schools triples in a decade to $2bn