School funding: Rural independent schools lose more than metro under DMI model
Rural students are losing nearly three times the annual funding compared to city kids, under a new plan. Here’s why the Federal Government claims that is somehow “fairer”.
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Country students will be the biggest losers in the Federal Government’s rollout of a new Commonwealth funding model for independent schools.
Due to be fully implemented by 2029, the new Direct Measure of Income model will leave 180 regional and rural independent schools across Australia worse off by an average of more than $1 million per school per year, compared to the current socio-economic model.
A group of about 45 principals from across rural Australia is calling for the government to address what it says is an unfair, simplistic model that is inherently “biased against regional communities”.
Chaired by Stephen Higgs OAM, the group, Coalition of Regional Independent Schools Australia, did an analysis based on current enrolments that found regional independent schools would be down an average of $766 per student per year in 2029, while metro students would lose just $268 of annual funding, when compared to the old SES model.
The new model uses median family income of all enrolled families, instead of using socio-economic data linked to students’ addresses, following a government review completed in June 2018.
The calculation does not take into account the statistical spread of incomes at a school, nor does it consider the number of children in each family or location of campuses.
A spokesman for the Department of Education, Skills and Employment said the method “gives a more accurate estimation of the capacity of families to contribute to the cost of non-government schooling, ensuring Commonwealth funding is better targeted and fairer”.
Mr Higgs said the wider spread of incomes at rural schools meant more families would be severely affected by any resulting changes to fees.
He said the cuts would threaten jobs, school choice and educational opportunity for regional and rural families.
While some schools’ funding will not change and some will gain more funds than they would have under the old system, the result across all regional independent schools is a loss of more than $350,000 a school compared to the old model. Metro independent schools will be down an average of $204,500 each.
An education department spokesman said the Commonwealth’s per-student dollar contribution would still increase, “with funding for regional independent schools set to grow from $13,032 to $16,537 per student over 2021 to 2029”.
CRISA is calling for the Government to introduce a cap on funding score changes for schools adversely affected by the new model.
PRINCIPALS CALL FOR DMI CAP
Principals are concerned about the funding overhaul’s damaging consequences to rural communities.
The Hamilton and Alexandra College principal Dr Andrew Hirst said his small-enrolment campus anticipated losing $848 per student in 2029 compared with funding allocations under the SES system.
“That is significant. For us that equates to three teachers,” he said, stressing that the school was looking at all avenues, from fees to programs, to deal with the shortfall.
“I have written a letter today to my community explaining that we are taking every consideration into account to carefully plan measures to minimise the impact of such losses.
“We’re just one of many schools in regional Australia who are bearing the brunt of this policy change.”
BISHOP DRUITT COLLEGE
At Bishop Druitt College in Coffs Harbour, principal Nick Johnstone said his school would be down $1.5 million a year under the new funding model.
He said the model was “fundamentally flawed” because it did not take into account the greater spread of family incomes at regional schools, nor higher costs for things such as extra-curricular activities, excursions and travel to school.
“Why are we penalising country kids and country families who already have to pay more to access different things?,” Mr Johnstone said. “We already pay more for our kids to be involved in sport.
“All the professional learning for teachers happens in Sydney. I pay more for my supply teachers because there are less of those. It is a compound effect.
“If they are not willing to change the calculation, then they need to have some sort of regional allowance or regional loading.”
MOAMA ANGLICAN GRAMMAR
Moama Anglican Grammar principal Carmel Spry said she had been frustrated about the lack of willingness by the federal Education Department to talk to schools about what the changes meant to them individually.
“Our funding is being reduced under the DMI model, which is a concern for us because we still have the same running costs that every school has wherever they are,” she said. “I cannot imagine how difficult it is for schools that are remote.”
The principals also stressed that if low income families left their schools due to affordability, that would push up their DMI score and further reduce their allocated funding.
“This is a vicious cycle that further undermines the capacity for regional independent schools to plan with confidence,’ Dr Hirst said.
“No one is debating that we need to provide more support to all schooling, we just need to be equitable.”
ST PAUL’S ANGLICAN GRAMMAR
St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School principal Cameron Herbert said the new model meant his Gippsland school would receive $12 million less funding over the next seven years.
The P-12 school has campuses at Warragul and Traralgon, with Year 12 fees currently at $12,000 a year.
Mr Herbert said the school would have to push for enrolment growth to try to balance the loss of funds, or consider increasing fees – but the latter was not an option, he said.
“That doesn’t suit our community. So we would have to cut our costs and compromise our model,” Mr Herbert said. “We are having a lot of money taken out of our regional economy and the quality of our offering couldn’t be as good as it is now, because we just wouldn’t be prepared to raise our fees.”
He said if the lowest quartile was used a measure of families’ capacity to contribute, instead of the median, it would be a more fair assessment of regional schools, but he didn’t hold out hope that the model would change.
Instead, he backed CRISA’s call for a DMI score cap for regional schools.
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