Schools For Every. Single. Child.
On Monday 6 May, AEU members planted 1,560 mini schools on the lawns of the State Library of Victoria. Each one represented one of the 1,560 Victorian public schools underfunded by $1.8 billion overall this year alone. The action was held in the lead up to state and federal budgets, announced on 7 May and 14 May respectively.
Speaking to media on the day, AEU Victoria president Meredith Peace said: “This is a cry for help for staff in our public schools. One in ten children in Victorian public schools are not funded. That’s unacceptable in a country like ours!”
The state budget revealed that the rate of funding growth remains significantly higher for non-government schools than for public schools – and that government funding increases are the major factor behind this resource advantage. The private sector also featured significant increases in income from fees, charges, donations, while this form of income fell in public schools.
Of all states and territories, Victoria has the widest resource gap. Here, the average income per student for public school students is $16,836 per year, versus $19,921 for those in Catholic schools and $27,709 (65% more) for private school students.
Victoria’s Minister for Education Ben Carroll says he recognises that the challenges in schools are greater than they have ever been, and that funding needs to improve. Victoria’s student cohort is increasingly diverse, with more complex student needs, greater wellbeing and mental health issues since COVID; and an acute shortage of teachers driven by unsustainable workloads. In a recent AEU survey, only 11% of principals said they have sufficient resources to support the needs of students with disability.
There was a glimmer of hope when Carroll joined state education ministers from NSW, QLD, SA, and Tasmania in publicly calling for the federal Albanese government to increase its share of funding for public schools. But, on budget day, Albanese failed to follow through on his pledged commitment to full funding. Instead, his government provided $1 billion over four years for private school buildings, widening the already $30 billion capital infrastructure divide between public and private schools.
AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe spoke to the media on the day, saying: “If the government can find $2.5 billion to overfund 40% of private schools, they can find the money to fund public schools.
“If governments can afford to overfund private schools, they can find the money to fund public schools.”
AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe
“This election commitment will only be realised when the Albanese government puts the dollars on the table. Right now, only 1.3% of public schools are funded at 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard, which is the minimum level governments agreed a decade ago was required to meet the needs of students.
“The challenges are too great and the cost of inaction too high for governments to continue to fail on funding. There are unacceptable achievement gaps between children from different backgrounds and locations, acute teacher shortages, and alarming declines in student wellbeing and engagement,” Haythorpe concluded.
On average, public schools are now funded at 87.6% of their SRS in 2024 while private schools are funded at 104.9% of the SRS. Between 2009 and 2022, government funding increased by an average $2,478 per student for independent schools, compared to $1,621 for public schools across Australia.
To add insult to injury, a recent article in The Age (also see Save Our Schools coverage) highlighted yet another significant flaw in the current funding model. Government support for private schools is based on the capacity of families to pay fees. However, the investigation revealed that a sizeable number of grandparents are paying or contributing to the cost, leading to even greater overfunding of private schools by the taxpayer than shown in official figures.
“We need to keep making it clear: if governments can afford to overfund private schools, they can afford to fully fund public schools,” said Haythorpe. “Public schools urgently need greater resources to recruit and retain teachers, reduce workloads, and minimise burnout for their staff.
“Every child deserves their best start. And we can’t do that without funding. We do not want to go to another election talking about this. Our members in schools and their students simply cannot wait any longer. Let’s fix this now.”
Support the campaign for full schools funding at foreverychild.au.
