REVEALED: What Toowoomba's elite schools are worth

NEW data has revealed just what our elite private schools are worth and the staggering amount will surprise you.

Toowoomba Grammar School generic. Picture: Tobi Loftus

TOOWOOMBA'S most elite schools have a combined building and land value of about $283 million.

An analysis of the most recent data from 2017 from the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profit Commission (ACNC), Australia's national regulator of charities, revealed the eight independent Toowoomba schools registered with the organisation had a non-current asset total of $282,600,556.

According to the ACNC "total non-current assets related to fixed assets such as land and buildings but could also include other items expected to be realised, sold or consumed more than 12 months from the end of financial year, such as motor vehicles".

Toowoomba Grammar School had the highest non-current asset total of any of the eight schools, worth $97,867,730.

The Glennie School came in second with $50,841,359 and Toowoomba Anglican School came in third with $37,435,718.

Fairholme College had $28,553,877, Concordia Lutheran College $28,004,322 and Downlands College $17,842,301.

Toowoomba Christian College had the lowest non-current asset base of any of the schools listed, with $1,665,514. The school is listed in the dataset as Toowoomba City Church.

The data does not include any of the 31 schools run by the Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba, or state schools.

The ACNC is Australia's national regulator of charities.

Charities wanting to access the Federal Government's charity tax concessions and other benefits, need to register with the ACNC to receive them. Although many charities choose to register, registration with the ACNC is voluntary.

Total assets

Toowoomba Grammar School also had the highest total number of assets with $121,252,38, again followed by The Glennie School with $52,348,916.

Toowoomba Anglican School had total assets worth $39,522,787, Fairholme College $29,397,330, Concordia Lutheran College $29,212,483 and Downlands College $25,057,761.

According to the dataset, Highlands Christian College, which was known as Christian Outreach College Toowoomba until last year, had $191,154,486 in non-current assets and total number of assets, valued at $205,920,788.

While this is higher than all the other schools, the data includes the assets of schools in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Gympie.

A spokesperson for the school said the school's non-current assets in 2017 was $20,387,735 and its total assets was $20,922,648.

Toowoomba Grammar headmaster Peter Hauser. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Government funding

Toowoomba Grammar School also received the most government funding of any of Toowoomba's elite private schools in 2017. The school received $11,974,717 in 2017 from various levels of government that year, followed by Downlands College with $10,383,566 and Toowoomba Christian College with $8,191,140.

The Glennie School received $8,142,743, Fairholme College $7,219,677, Concordia Lutheran College $6,856,851, Highlands Christian College $5,018,625 and Toowoomba Anglican School $3,968,378.

Toowoomba Grammar School headmaster Peter Hauser said the school was grateful to receive government funding, of which the school received the highest of any independent school in Toowoomba.

"It makes independent education more affordable to a wide range of families who would otherwise be unable to send their children to an independent school," Mr Hauser said.

"Independent schools are an integral part of the education landscape, providing people with choice, and also for rural and remote families who can't access state school education and their only option is to send their children to boarding school.

"We are all aware of the struggles our rural families face with the drought and floods and the difficulties of life on the land in general, and it is thanks to government funding that independent schools can lower their fees and provide a more affordable option for education."

Mr Hauser said all independent schools in Australia derived some funding from the State and Federal Governments based on criteria set by the government including student numbers and socio-economic background.

"Without this funding these schools would be inaccessible to many families," he said. taking the choice out of educational provision.

Total income

Grammar also had the highest total gross income of any school, bringing in $35,511,054 in 2017.

This was followed by Downlands, which brought in $21,221,789, Glennie with $20,905,478 and Fairholme with $19,684,067.

Concordia brought in $13,901,324, Toowoomba Anglican School $11,836,672, Toowoomba Christian College $11,374,617 and Highlands Christian College $7,918,412.

Surplus or defecit

Most of Toowoomba's elite private schools are operating at a surplus, data from the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission reveals.

Toowoomba Grammar School had the highest surplus of any of the schools in 2017, at $4,553,741.

This was followed by Downlands College with a surplus of $1,112,373 and Fairholme College with a surplus of $420,212.

The Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba Catholic Education, which operates 31 schools in the Toowoomba region and southwest Queensland had an operating surplus of $8,425,240.

Toowoomba Christian College had a surplus of $316,050, The Glennie School $269,075 and Toowoomba Anglican School $46,730.

Only two of the schools in the ACNC data were operating at a deficit.

St Ursula's College, the only Catholic school to be singled out on the data, had a deficit of $33,374, while Concordia Lutheran College had a deficit of $416,687.

P and C groups

A number of the school's parents and friends associations also have a large number of assets.

The Glennie School Foundation has the highest number of assets of any, totalling $2,509,629. This is followed by the Concordia College Foundation with $952,373 and Toowoomba Grammar School P and F Associtation with $730,857.

The Glennie School P and F had $659,175 worth of assets, the Downlands Foundation Trust had $590,685, the Mater Dei P and F had $172,926, the Fairholme Foundation had $162,108 and Our Lady Of Lourdes P and F had $49,253.

Tobi Loftus

Follow @tobiloftus

Originally published as REVEALED: What Toowoomba's elite schools are worth