Tony Abbott warns over school funding impact on Catholic schools

Tony Abbott puts the PM on notice about the $18.6bn school funding boost, warning of its impact on Catholic schools.

Tony Abbott has warned over school funding. Picture: Supplied.

Tony Abbott and former defence minister Kevin Andrews have used the Coalition party room meeting to put Malcolm Turnbull on notice about the government’s $18.6 billion school funding boost, warning of the impact on Catholic schools.

In the biggest debate of the Tuesday meeting ahead of the federal budget, the former prime minister told the Prime Minister and his colleagues of the need to be very careful in adjusting funding for the Catholic sector.

Liberal ACT senator Zed Seselja also aired his concern about the hit to Catholic schools in his region from a new funding formula that has sparked claims of a $3,000 increase in school fees over a decade.

While government schools are expected to get a 95 per cent funding increase over a decade, this falls to 75 per cent for independent schools and 54 per cent for Catholic schools.

While the funding growth is 5.2 per cent for government schools, it is 4.2 per cent for independent schools and 3.7 per cent for Catholic schools over the next four years.

MPs at the meeting said it was not a “showdown” on the issue but a clear expression of concern at a time when Catholic school authorities in Victoria and the ACT are mounting a strong campaign to get better treatment.

Mr Turnbull mounted a “solid” defence of the policy by telling the party room meeting that the education funding issue was one the Coalition had to tackle.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham gave a detailed presentation on the impact of the funding boost, including the fact that there are thousands more schools getting a funding increase than a slowdown in their funding growth.

The party room debate came after the government released an “estimator” on Tuesday morning that allows parents to type in their region or school and see the change in funding, which includes a boost for more than 9,000 schools, cuts to 24 schools and a slowdown in growth for 353 schools.

The government has already used the data to counter fears of drastic school fee increases, giving every MP a list of schools in his or her electorate to respond to any concerns from parents.

Some Liberal MPs are anxious about a backlash from Catholic school leaders. One MP said he was sceptical of the estimates from Catholic school organisations.

“Within the party room there’s a bit of anger that the Catholic education authorities are over-playing their hand, ” Queensland Liberal MP Trevor Evans said.

Speaking before Tuesday’s party room meeting, Mr Evans said he did not expect too many complaints because the reforms were doing the right thing for his electorate of Brisbane.

“I have almost 40 schools in my electorate. One is facing a funding reduction of 1 per cent, a handful will receive the same funding as last year and well over 30 are going to have funding increases,” Mr Evans told The Australian.