Schools could get double funding

EVERY child attending a school where more than 75 per cent of students are indigenous could get double the base-level government payment.

EVERY child attending a school where more than 75 per cent of students are indigenous could receive double the base-level government payment, under a proposed shake-up of school funding.

The Gonski review has called for a "significant shift" in the way federal and state governments target educational disadvantage, declaring that the under-performance of Australia's most disadvantaged schools - particularly in remote indigenous communities - must be redressed.

The report, released yesterday, found that although about $4.4 billion was spent by governments in 2009-10 to target disadvantage, the measures were haphazard, complicated and varied across states and territories as well as across the government and non-government sectors.

It recommends a new funding model that applies additional loadings for indigenous students on top of the base resource payment that would be calculated the same way for every student.

While the report notes further consultation is required and it is not possible to propose "firm estimates", it suggests a 40 per cent loading for the base payment for each indigenous student at a school with an indigenous population of between 5 and 25 per cent. This loading could increase to 100 per cent where more than 75 per cent of students are indigenous.

Loadings would also be applied based on the school size and remoteness, its socio-economic status, as well as its English language proficiency.

The report says further work is needed to examine the possible interactions between remoteness, low socio-economic status and the proportion of indigenous students.

The Gonski review finds that compared with other high-performing OECD countries, the Australian education system is characterised by "a strong concentration of disadvantaged students in certain schools".

It says the difference in mean academic scores between indigenous and non-indigenous students is estimated to be equivalent to about two full years of schooling.

Andrew Penfold, the founder of Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, said the Gonski report had highlighted that funding models had placed too much emphasis on funding schools rather than funding students.

Mr Penfold said the education system needed to be means-tested so government funding was directed only at those families who could not independently support the education of their children.