Labor fires Catholic schools funding war with $250m promise

Bill Shorten has promised Catholic schools billions of dollars more over 10 years in the wake of the church’s bruising battle with the Coalition.

Bill Shorten has pledged the ALP would stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’’ with the Catholic ­system in the wake of a bruising battle with the Coalition over schools funding. Picture: AAP

Bill Shorten has ignited a Catholic education funding war with the Coalition by formally offering the faith’s schools more than $250 million extra in the first two years of office and billions of ­dollars over 10 years.

In an extraordinary letter to the church’s leadership, the ­Opposition Leader pledged the ALP would stand “shoulder to shoulder’’ with the Catholic ­system in the wake of a bruising battle with the Coalition over schools funding, which threatens campus closures in some states.

The pledge comes after ­Education Minister Simon Birmingham backed a new funding deal that was designed to phase out what critics argued was gold-­plating of the Catholic sector.

But the funding battle has sparked a damaging political brawl with the sector, including threats of school closures and campaigning in government seats over the struggle, a spectre that has alarmed Liberal elders.

If Mr Shorten is elected his ­letter promises the Catholic ­sector will be more than $250m better off in the first two years of government and billions over the decade as part of the ALP’s pledge to reinstate past funding promises totalling $17bn. He also said the Catholic sector had been treated unfairly by the Coalition, which reduced the rate of funding indexation for all schools and increased the amount of private income many primary schools were ­expected to raise.

“When it comes to school funding, my party stands shoulder to shoulder with the church,’’ Mr Shorten said in a letter to Australian Catholic Bishops Conference chairman Denis Hart this week.

“We are committed to funding all schools based on a proper ­assessment of their need, while also supporting parental choice.

“Based on the information we have from the Parliamentary Budget Office and the National Catholic Education Commission, our current calculations confirm Catholic schools would be more than $250m better off in our first two years of government alone, and billions of dollars better off over the decade as we restore the whole of the $17bn cut by the Turnbull government from schools.’’

The letter marks formal ­confirmation that Labor will fall in behind the Catholic sector, having held a string of private meetings in recent months.

The Catholic vote in outer ­suburban areas is crucial to Labor winning the election, with lower socio-economic schools most at risk of closure.

Under the Birmingham model, over the 10 years of the Gonski 2.0 vision, Catholic schools will ­receive a smaller percentage lift in funding than public and independent schools. This is part of the strategy of the Coalition to undo old funding deals it argues were biased towards the Catholic ­sector and claims that the ­Catholic sector is already ahead of other systems.

This ignores, however, the core issue of the ability of Catholic ­parents to pay, compared with wealthy independent schools.

Senator Birmingham says his government is increasing funding for Catholic schools from $6.3bn to $9.8bn.

The Catholic sector argues that wealthy independents will be overfunded by billions of dollars over the next decade due in part to “flawed’’ socio-economic status funding scores that are under review by Senator Birmingham.

Senator Birmingham said the review of the SES score methodology by the National School ­Resourcing Board would look into the way the scores were ­calculated and “used to assess the capacity of families to contribute to the running costs of their non-government school’’.

The Catholic sector says the SES system is biased against its parents, while benefiting the richest private schools. It says current funding does not adequately take into account the lower incomes generally earned by Catholic parents compared with those with children at independent schools.

Catholic Education Commission of Victoria executive director Stephen Elder blasted Senator Birmingham and Malcolm Turnbull, claiming they were harming Catholic schools by overturning half a century of bipartisan policy.

“Malcolm Turnbull and Simon Birmingham have undermined this bipartisanship and trashed one of their party’s founder Sir Robert Menzies’ greatest legacies,’’ Mr Elder said.

“Their new arrangements have already cut the amount of funding attracted by over 600 Catholic schools nationally and some 180 here in Victoria between 2017 and 2018 and threatened to make low-fee, inclusive non-government schools unviable in many parts of Australia.’’

The Australian understands Senator Birmingham has received deputations from Liberal figures concerned about the politics of fighting with the Catholic Church in the run-up to the next election. The church educates about one in every five school ­students in Australia and there are strong historical ties between Labor and the church.

Key unions — including the powerful shop assistants’ union — have strong historical ties with the church but the Liberal Party also has become increasingly populated by Catholics, including the Prime Minister.

Mr Shorten is Jesuit-educated but converted to Anglicanism.

Senator Birmingham said Mr Shorten was making promises he couldn’t keep. “Bill Shorten should release the letters he’s sent the education unions about public school funding, to independent schools and to other school systems so everyone can see all the promises he’s making,’’ he said.

“This is just like Adani where Bill Shorten says one thing to one group of voters and something completely different to another.”