By Lucy Carroll and Daniella White
NSW over-funded more than 200 private schools by almost $100 million last year, after dozens were given hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra state government money above what they were due.
Almost 30 private schools were overpaid by more than $1 million each last year, with Barker College, William Clarke College, Oakhill College, Knox Grammar School and Pymble Ladies’ College topping the list of schools that received more than the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) determined they needed.
Barker College, Knox Grammar and Oakhill College were among the overfunded schools.
A new report by education economist Adam Rorris, commissioned by the NSW Teachers Federation, analysed state government funding to 367 private schools across the state.
It found that 238 independent schools were overpaid by a total of $96 million in 2021 and that it would take 20 years for the state government to end its overfunding at the current rate.
“This over-funding of private schools was delivered at the same time as NSW public schools were underfunded by more than 10 per cent below their required minimum SRS level of funding,” the report said.
“NSW over-funded some of the wealthiest independent schools in Australia by more than $1 million each in 2021.”
But Association of Independent Schools chief executive Geoff Newcombe said the report failed to mention that 121 independent schools were underfunded during the same period.
The SRS, which was introduced under Gonski reforms, calculates how much government support schools are entitled to when parents’ incomes are accounted for.
The schools identified as overpaid in the report received above the state government’s nominated 20 per cent share of the SRS. Of the over-funded schools, 28 received $1 million or more than their NSW SRS entitlement, while a further 43 were given between $500,000 and $1 million in extra funding.
Under a new funding model introduced in 2019, over-funded independent schools will be gradually transitioned down to the SRS standard by 2029. Those which are receiving below the SRS entitlement will be brought up to standard by 2023.
Eighty per cent of an independent school’s SRS entitlement is funded by the Commonwealth and the remaining 20 per cent by the state government.
The report found the NSW government’s over-funding of private schools had gone down 5 per cent from $100 million in 2020 to $96 million in 2021. But it said if that slow rate continued, it would take 20 years for the state government to end its over-funding of private schools.
Chief executive of think tank the Blueprint Institute, David Cross, said the state government must ensure it brings private school funding down to 20 per cent of SRS by 2029.
“It is critical that the government meets this commitment. Education is the key to ensuring equity of opportunity, it is why we spend billions of taxpayer dollars on it each year. Funding models must seek to eliminate equity gaps, not widen them,” he said.
Rorris said that while private schools were overpaid and “running surpluses each year”, public schools were understaffed with students in demountables and some classrooms without air-conditioning.
“It’s not justifiable. We provide so much funding to private schools.”
Newcombe said the funding discrepancies had been caused by the recent funding model change.
“All school sectors accepted this change and we are now in a transition period which will bring all schools to their new funding levels by 2029,” he said.
“Some 30 per cent of independent schools will lose significant funding each year during this transition.”
Newcombe said the report failed to mention that 121 independent schools received less 20 per cent of the SRS from the NSW government in 2021, and that 240 received less than their combined NSW and Commonwealth SRS funding.
“The claimed ‘overspend’ is therefore incorrect because it does not include the shortfall of the underfunded schools,” he said.
“It is interesting that economists working on behalf of the Teachers’ Federation never analyse the massive saving to taxpayers of parents funding the infrastructure needed to accommodate the significant increase in enrolments in independent schools over the past decade.”
NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos said the report showed the “profound inequity” of the state government’s school funding arrangements.
“This funding inequity is making it harder to ensure every child gets the education they need. The most overfunded schools are the ones who need the money the least.”
A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education said NSW was the first jurisdiction to sign up to “needs-based, sector-blind funding and remains committed to this funding model.”
“As detailed in the current school funding agreement signed in 2018, the [state] is transitioning funding to non-government schools in NSW at 20 per cent of their SRS by 2029.
“In 2021, the NSW government contribution to non-government schools was 22.74 per cent, down from 25.29 per cent in 2018,” the spokesperson said.
“There is a grave injustice in the way the funding in being direct by both the states and the Commonwealth”
Economist Trevor Cobbold
Economist Trevor Cobbold, who convenes the Save Our Schools public education advocacy group, said public schools are vastly underfunded and urged governments to speed up how quickly overpayments to private schools are wound back.
“There is a grave injustice in the way the funding in being direct by both the states and the Commonwealth. This has to change now than rather than letting it go for the rest decade.”
The head of Barker College, Phillip Heath, said the school was funded according to the regulations established by governments.
“The school has grown significantly in the past four years through the addition of places for female students as Barker transitioned to a fully coeducational school. During this time we have also been completing much-needed capital works, which are heavily used by the wider community in our district,” he said.
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