Research points to unfair school funding

Keeping the current federal funding model for schools will cause the divide between
public and private institutions to widen, new research shows.
A paper by Sydney University honorary associate professor Jim McMorrow shows public
schools will get far less than their private counterparts if Labor doesn't overhaul
the previous Howard government's funding system.
Private schools are at present funded under the controversial socio-economic status
(SES) model.
It has been criticised for giving too much money to private schools and not enough
to the public system.
Labor is reviewing the arrangement but that process is not due to be completed until
the end of 2011.
Professor McMorrow said extending the SES scheme for another four years beyond 2012
would increase funding for private schools by more than $2.3 billion, to a total of
$9.5 billion.
This is compared with a $652 million increase for government schools, to a total of
$3.1 billion, over the same period.
Professor McMorrow said public schools' share of money was projected to decline to
35 per cent of all federal school funding by 2016, if the current system remained in
place.
"Retaining the current funding scheme beyond 2012 will entrench the inequities and
injustices that are embedded in its structure and operation," he said in his
research paper.
The coalition has promised to keep the SES model should it win the next federal
election.
Australian Education Union president Angelo Gavrielatos said Opposition Leader Tony
Abbott wanted to privatise education.
"Under Tony Abbott public schools which teach more than two thirds of students would
receive only one-third of the funding," he said on Wednesday.
"The needs of public school students would again be ignored."



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