Essington leads list of NT’s richest schools: ‘They have more flexibility with how they can make money’

A NEW data analysis has found the NT’s richest schools, with non-government schools leading the charge

NON-GOVERNMENT schools dominated the top 10 richest schools in the Northern Territory, with the leading school cashing in a whopping $68.7 million over three years.

An analysis by the NT News using financial information on the federal government’s MySchool website calculated the combined gross income of Territory schools over 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The Essington International School led the charge with a gross income of $68.7 million across the three year period.

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In 2017 the school had an average gross income of $20,258 per student, with 1092 students enrolled.

The second richest school was Darwin High School with a gross income of $67.6 million, followed by Good Shepherd Lutheran College with a gross income of $65 million.

In 2017 Darwin High School had an average gross income of $18,181 per student, with 1326 students enrolled, while in the same year Good Shepherd Lutheran College had an average gross income of $17,276, with 1295 students enrolled in its campuses.

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These figures do not include any deductions for income allocated to capital works of debt servicing.

The majority of a school’s gross income is made up of federal government and state / territory government funding, while non-government schools have the advantage of boosting their income through private sources.

The NT’s wealthiest schools have been determined by a new data analysis

Queensland University of Technology lecturer in education Dr Rebecca English said the independent nature of non-government schools made them profitable.

“They’re able to draw funding from multiple sources, unlike a state/government school,” she said.

“They have more flexibility with how they can make money and those multiple sources include parent fees and government funding.”

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The analysis found rural and remote government schools had the lowest gross incomes in the Northern Territory.

The bottom three were Mbunghara School in Papunya, which had a gross income of $1.5 million over the three year period, followed by Douglas Daly School in Douglas Daly with a gross income of $1.2 million and Tipperary Station School in Tipperary with a gross income of $1.2 million.

In 2017 Mbunghara School had an average gross income of $58,602 per student with nine students enrolled.

Douglas Daly School had an average gross income of $42,572 per student with nine students enrolled in 2017, while Tipperary Station School had an average gross income of $68,655 with seven students enrolled in the same year.

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Australian Education Union NT president Jarvis Ryan said while these figures did not represent the quality of education in these areas, the low figures were an indication for a need of more funding.

“All Australians would believe no matter where you are you should be able to receive quality education and funding,” he said.