Greens’ war on education only punishes kids, parents

Greens leader Adam Bandt.

There are some significant challenges facing our school education system that affect all students, such as literacy and numeracy, teacher shortages and workloads, student wellbeing, or the integration of new technologies such as generative AI.

It would follow then that as a nation, we’re engaged in a constructive conversation about how we address these challenges? About ensuring that all students and schools are fully and fairly funded, acknowledging the contributions from parents as well as state, territory and commonwealth governments. Or about sharing resources and collaborating across sectors – government, Independent and Catholic – to improve education for every child in Australia.

Unfortunately, the reality is that instead we are engaged in an ugly, escalating fight that ignores students, makes the conversation about money, and focuses on apportioning blame to the commonwealth government and the very existence of non-government schools. This fight is underpinned by a relentlessly divisive campaign led by the Australian Greens and the Australian Education Union.

Schools are first and foremost communities of children, families and educators – not just collections of buildings. Let’s be clear, the relentless attacks that conveniently ignore this fact and paint all non-government schools as elitist institutions that only serve the wealthy are a vilification of those communities and an assault on family choice and aspirations.

They target the families who make sacrifices, often working extra hours, cutting down on holidays and putting off other financial commitments to give their children the education they believe is best for them.

School choice counts. With more than 700,000 students nationally and a 120,000-strong workforce, these communities of families and educators represent over 2.5 million voters.

This isn’t an exclusive club for a privileged elite. The fact is that the majority of Independent schools charge average fees of below $6000 a year, with the median average fee sitting just over $5500.

Many Independent schools charge no fees at all. More than 20 per cent of Independent school students have a disability, more than 19,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students attend Independent schools, and there are around 100 schools doing remarkable work with some of our most at-risk children, and students who have disengaged from education because mainstream schools simply cannot meet their needs.

So there’s real hypocrisy in the “elitist” narrative, which also conveniently ignores the inequalities in government school systems. In affluent areas, for example, parents are “buying” access to well-resourced government schools by paying astronomical prices to live in government school catchment areas.

The reality is that these schools are selective, accessible only by the wealthy or by students out of the catchment that schools can select based on any criteria they set. Unlike parents who choose non-government schooling, families don’t contribute to our education system through fees, and can happily donate to develop buildings and facilities without the fear of being vilified as wealthy, elite or privileged.

Surprisingly, the Australian Greens are silent on these concentrations of advantage. Where is the outrage? Where is the call for equity?

The narrative that Independent schools are somehow siphoning off money from government schools is simply wrong.

In fact, the funding for Independent school students is far less than the government contributes to students in the public system.

On average, an Independent school student receives just $12,160 in government funding – combined, from all governments – compared to $22,510 for a government school student.

The schools receive almost half the funding per student of their government counterparts, and parents contribute more than $8bn to our education system every year. Yet they’re continuously attacked as if they are a burden on the system.

These families aren’t looking for special treatment, but as taxpayers they do believe they are entitled to some government support for their child’s education and to make the best choice for their child’s future without being vilified for it.

With an election on the horizon, independent research shows that parents feel strongly that any cuts to funding would be a great betrayal of their choice, commitment and, in many cases, sacrifices for their children’s future.

This sentiment is shared by a growing number of parents, including those of government school children who empathise with their Independent school counterparts and understand the importance of school choice. They believe education is a fundamental role of governments and it should not be reduced to a zero-sum political game.

The blame games and political pointscoring at the expense of our children need to stop. It’s time for solutions, for fairness, and for a recognition that families should have the right to choose the education that’s best for their kids, free from baseless attacks. Every child in Australia deserves a great education – let’s stop attacking families and schools that are delivering just that.

Graham Catt is chief executive of Independent Schools Australia.