A new schooling model
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Government funding of private education now sees hundreds of private schools across the country receiving more government funding than comparable public schools.
For many years taxpayer largesse has helped fund the extraordinary facilities of elite private schools, where student fees can be as much as $50 000 per annum. Meanwhile, under-resourced comprehensive public schools are left to educate the vast majority of children from low-income families.
At the same time, the country's seen increasing numbers of middle-class families choosing to educate their children in the private system, often at significant financial sacrifice. Whether for faith reasons, or to give their children a real (or perceived) advantage, this increasing compulsion has only served to make the country's education system more segregated and less equitable. All the while, the overall performance of Australian students against international benchmarks has, for many years, declined.
Public money should not fund schools which are only available to the few. We can retain a system which allows for parental choice, but not at the cost of providing public money to fund opportunities not available to every student.
Our choice should be to:
- Provide every student a guaranteed place at a local public primary or secondary school, as happens now
- Reserve for out-of-area enrolments a proportion of places in each year group in each public school, to be filled on application and awarded according to merit, or demonstrated interest, as does not happen now
- Fully fund private schools with their distinctive faith-based or learning approaches, provided such schools do not charge fees, and accept all local area enrolments, as happens in countries like New Zealand
- Allow private schools to charge fees and set their own admissions processes only if they receive zero government funding, as happens in many overseas jurisdictions
This compelling document outlines the reasons for making this very choice. As a counterpoint, consider this summary from Independent Schools Australia.