Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne is today meeting with his state and territory counterparts. On the agenda: scrapping the school funding system that was five years in the making and has not even been implemented yet.
NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT signed bilateral agreements with the former federal Labor government which would have delivered an extra $10 billion in Commonwealth funding between 2014 and 2019, but with only 28% of the funding forthcoming in the first four years. The big cash splash would have taken place in 2018 and 2019, just beyond the current budget forward estimates.
Prior to the federal election, Pyne sensibly refused to commit to the funding slated for 2018 and 2019, promising only to deliver the first four years of the deal. Pyne’s decision to get rid of Labor’s ‘Better Schools’ funding model at some point during that time was always on the cards, it has just happened sooner than expected.
A key point to remember is that the federal government does not decide how much funding will be provided to state schools. Each state and territory has its own funding mechanism.
The Better Schools model calculates a nominal amount for each school and then, in the case of state and Catholic schools, hands its share of the total over to state authorities to distribute in their own way. Independent schools are the only schools to receive funding based directly on the Better Schools model.
Another key point is that the Better Schools model is not the same as the ‘Gonski’ model that was proposed in the review of school funding in 2012. It is much more complicated and difficult to administer and implement.
The most important features of the ‘Gonksi’ model were that it was simpler, more student-centred, and took a more neutral approach to funding schools in different sectors. These features were lost in the translation to Better Schools.
Hopefully, in the next twelve months, Minister Pyne will come up with a model that achieves the same objectives without breaking the bank. It won’t be easy.
Jennifer Buckingham is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies.
Home > Commentary > Opinion > Gonski funding model lost in translation
Gonski funding model lost in translation
NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT signed bilateral agreements with the former federal Labor government which would have delivered an extra $10 billion in Commonwealth funding between 2014 and 2019, but with only 28% of the funding forthcoming in the first four years. The big cash splash would have taken place in 2018 and 2019, just beyond the current budget forward estimates.
Prior to the federal election, Pyne sensibly refused to commit to the funding slated for 2018 and 2019, promising only to deliver the first four years of the deal. Pyne’s decision to get rid of Labor’s ‘Better Schools’ funding model at some point during that time was always on the cards, it has just happened sooner than expected.
A key point to remember is that the federal government does not decide how much funding will be provided to state schools. Each state and territory has its own funding mechanism.
The Better Schools model calculates a nominal amount for each school and then, in the case of state and Catholic schools, hands its share of the total over to state authorities to distribute in their own way. Independent schools are the only schools to receive funding based directly on the Better Schools model.
Another key point is that the Better Schools model is not the same as the ‘Gonski’ model that was proposed in the review of school funding in 2012. It is much more complicated and difficult to administer and implement.
The most important features of the ‘Gonksi’ model were that it was simpler, more student-centred, and took a more neutral approach to funding schools in different sectors. These features were lost in the translation to Better Schools.
Hopefully, in the next twelve months, Minister Pyne will come up with a model that achieves the same objectives without breaking the bank. It won’t be easy.
Jennifer Buckingham is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies.
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