Leading private schools have millions in funds while state schools wait for basic upgrades
Victoria’s wealthiest schools are splashing out on indoor aquatic centres and high-tech classrooms while public schools are waiting for basic upgrades. See how your school fares.
Education
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The wealthiest 20 Victorian secondary schools have more than $1 billion between them – splashing out on indoor aquatic centres, wellbeing centres and high-tech classrooms.
In comparison, the poorest 20 schools have a paltry $2.2m combined in capital funds accrued over three years.
The bottom 100 schools share $37m in accumulated capital funds – less than half of the $80m allocated by Caulfield Grammar in 2022 for a centre for “staff and students to play, learn and reflect”.
The funds are a combination of government money, parent fees, donations and investments.
Analysis of My Schools financial data for 2021, released on Wednesday, reveals the stark public-private divide.
Leading private schools have many millions in funds while state schools such as Sunshine College North Campus and Elwood College are still waiting for basic upgrades.
The capital funding top 20 list included three state schools which received massive government funding for new campuses: Fitzroy High ($95m), Bass Coast College ($65m) and McKinnon Secondary College ($57m). Such schools would be likely to drop out of the top 20 in subsequent years.
The remainder were leading private schools, topped by Carey Baptist Grammar, Caulfield Grammar and Hume Anglican Grammar.
In the top 100 schools for capital funding, only 25 were government schools. Correna Haythorpe, Australian Education Union federal president, said the data revealed “a system in which elite private schools are banking public funds and using taxpayer money for buildings and capital works, while public schools are under-resourced and underfunded to meet students’ needs”.
Parents Victoria chief executive Gail McHardy said that “Victorian government school students … have been underfunded for over 20 years”.
“They (the state government) must meet their commitment to completely fund a quality education for all the students in our government schools,” Ms McHardy said. “How can it be an equal playing field when a student’s learning environment and support are so variable between and within school sectors?”
The new data also revealed the school with the highest total gross income for 2021 was Haileybury College with $148m, followed by Wesley College and Caulfield Grammar with $124m each. The wealthiest government schools were Greater Shepparton Secondary College ($47m), Northern Bay P-12 ($42m) and Virtual School Victoria and Copperfield Colleges ($38m each). There were only 23 state schools in the top 100 schools for funding.
There is also substantial variation in funding per student.
Lynall Hall Community School, which seeks to help reintegrate students after a break from schooling, received $70,000 per student.
When it comes to mainstream private schools, Korowa Anglican Girls’ School topped the list, spending $42,000 per student – 75 per cent of whom come from the top socio-economic band.
Independent Schools Victoria chief executive Michelle Green said their colleges were
“overwhelmingly funded from fees paid by parents”.
Education department figures show since 2014, the state government has invested $12.8b in building new schools and 1850-plus school upgrades.
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What your elite private school says about you
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