Independent Schools Australia (ISA) today expressed disappointment to see, yet again, the AEU using the complexity of school funding as a smokescreen to launch misguided and misleading attacks on individual non-government schools and their communities.
ISA CEO Graham Catt pointed out that the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), which operates the MySchool website from which the AEU report draws its data, specifically warns against using the data to make direct funding comparisons between schools, even those in the same sector, due to the difference in funding and operating models.
“The AEU has disregarded that warning, and used the data to create misleading sector comparisons,” said Mr Catt.
“Independent schools serve diverse students and communities, with diverse needs and so there are many variables in how funding is determined. But the simple fact is that government schools will always receive more government funding than non-government schools on a per student basis, where they enrol an identical cohort of students.”
The latest data clearly shows that nationally, Independent school students receive an average of $12,160 in government funding, while public school students receive $22,510.
“Every Independent school teacher, every leader, every parent wants to see all schools fully and fairly funded.” said Mr Catt. “They shouldn’t be the subject of attacks like this that deliberately seek to fuel division. Instead, we should be united across all sectors to ensure that every Australian child gets the best education possible.”
ISA is the national peak body representing 1,216 Independent schools with close to 720,000 enrolled students, accounting for approximately 17 per cent of Australian school enrolments and a workforce of 122,000 people. Independent schools are diverse, serving a range of different communities across Australia.
For more information – www.isa.edu.au
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