‘Not always transparent and defensible’: Audit slams state school fees

The Queensland education department has undertaken major policy reforms after a damning internal audit into the fees charged by state schools under the guise of the Student Resource Scheme.

The scheme is intended to offer parents and carers a cost-effective alternative to purchasing textbooks and other resources themselves, by allowing schools and the department to use bulk purchasing and hiring arrangements and charge parents a fee to participate.

It collected $101.6 million in additional revenue for taxpayer-funded schools in 2023-24, up from $87.7 million five years earlier.

An internal audit found Queensland state schools failing to comply with procedures for charging parents fees, and the department not monitoring the situation.Credit: Michael Howard

But an internal audit marked as ‘sensitive’, and obtained by this masthead under the Right to Information Act, last year warned the department of major problems with the administration and oversight of the scheme.

The audit highlighted how individual schools were allowed to determine how much to charge parents who agreed to participate in the scheme.

However, schools were not complying with procedures set by the department – some schools even modified the official forms without approval – and no-one in the department had been assigned responsibility for monitoring compliance.

That had led to parents being charged more than allowed, disparity between schools, and little justification for fee-setting under the scheme.

“SRS practices observed during the audit were not always transparent and defensible,” the audit warned in June 2024.

“For example, sample-based testing identified that: over half of the schools selected (54 per cent) were unable to provide sufficient evidence to support the calculation of their annual SRS fee; and 36 per cent of sampled schools included resources that should not be included in a SRS.”

Ineligible resources factored into the calculations included internet access fees, printing allowances, student ID cards, magazines, and a general levy for all students to cover club memberships only required by some (for example in sport).

Parents and Citizens Associations are meant to sign off on the SRS each year, and be given revenue and expenditure reports, but the audit found the groups were routinely excluded.

“Furthermore, information provided to parents lacked sufficient detail for them to make an informed decision whether to participate in the scheme. This lack of detail limits their ability to determine whether the SRS offered is a convenient and cost-effective alternative to individually sourcing their student resources.”

The audit coincided with a review by the department’s Finance, Procurement and Facilities (FPF) section – which had overall responsibility for the scheme – into how policies and fees are determined more broadly.

A department spokeswoman said that, in response to the audit and review, the procedures for fees and charges were updated in September “to align with the government’s focus on cost-of-living concerns for parents and carers”.

“These include the user charging procedure which addresses the impact of fees on users and ensures that decisions on fees and charges are transparent, defensible, equitable and compliant with relevant legislation, policies and procedures,” the spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said the new SRS approach emphasised “cost reduction strategies and shared decision-making,” with more information made available to parents and carers on the department’s website.

The department had identified the need for an audit in 2023.

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