Almost 90 private schools across Western Australia have received more combined funding from state and federal governments than comparable public schools – double the number of a decade ago.
New data shows that in 2013 there were 45 private schools in the state that received more combined government funding than comparable public schools. By 2022, this jumped to 87.
In 2013, there were 45 private schools in the state that received more combined government funding than comparable public schools. By 2022, this had almost doubled.Credit: Michelle Mossop
The number of private schools catering to the top quartile of socio-educational advantage that receive more funding has also increased, from two to 14.
The data was revealed in the Australian Education Union’s A Decade of Inequality report, released on Friday as Commonwealth, state and territory leaders gather for the national cabinet.
Union federal president Correna Haythorpe said the difference in funding was shocking.
“WA private schools are receiving up to $3068 per student more than similar public schools with very similar student profiles – in some cases those schools are just around the corner from each other,” she said.
“This unfair advantage translates into a school resourcing and staffing advantage and has fuelled a private school capital works boom, while denying public schools funding needed to attract and retain teachers and address high levels of student needs.”
The biggest funding gap between schools was the public Joseph Banks Secondary College in Banksia Grove and the private Our Lady of Mercy College in Bunbury.
Both have more than 800 students who have a similar level of social advantage, but while the former received $14,521 per student, the latter received $18,129.
The private school also received more funding from governments than 17 other comparable public secondary schools that on average received $16,427 in 2022 – a gap of $1702 before fees were included.
State School Teachers Union WA president Matt Jarman said public schools educated more than double the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds than private schools, and were not funded to meet those students’ needs.
“The challenges are too great and the cost of inaction too high for governments to continue to fail on funding,” he said.
The federal government on Tuesday announced it would spend an additional $785 million on public schools between 2025 and 2029, with the state government matching the number, to bring funding levels to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard by 2026.
But unions say public schools will remain underfunded by $1.32 billion from 2024-2028, as this was “artificially inflated” by 4 per cent through inclusion of costs not directly related to education, such as capital depreciation, transport and regulatory costs.
Both state and federal ministers denied this, stating those costs were directly related to education.
“When you have a kid at school, you’ve got to have the buildings, and you’ve got to have all the other utilities, and also you need transportation for other educational pursuits outside the school grounds,” WA’s Education Minister Tony Buti said.
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