Click here to download the media release in PDF format.

Click here to download the paper: Designing a Funding Model for Australian Primary Schools (PDF format)

In an historic first, the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA), representing all education sectors, today launched funding principles agreed by all three of Australia’s primary school sectors for future school funding. APPA President, Leonie Trimper, said at the launch of APPA’s position paper:

“Today’s announcement is truly ground-breaking. For the first time, all three education sectors have come together in support of a funding model that operates transparently and on the basis of need.”

Ms Trimper said that the existing system is failing to meet the needs of students. “The current school funding system is broken. We know this from the extensive body of research APPA has commissioned over the past decade. Frankly, it is a mess. We know that school funding is not being accurately targeted to where it is needed most.”

“The Federal Government’s proposed review of school funding is therefore welcomed, but it needs to encompass the funding mechanisms used by the States as well as the Commonwealth’s funding. Each currently fund schools according to a plethora of different rules.”

Today’s announcement provides the basis for the design of a new model for school funding. APPA’s proposed model represents a historic breakthrough which recognises that all Australian schools are entitled to government funding according to the needs of their students, irrespective of school sector.

“There has never been a better time for change in this climate of cooperative federalism. The reform to school funding will need full cooperation between the Commonwealth and States.”

Ms Trimper and the Presidents of the Government, Catholic and Independent Principals’ Associations, all called for greater transparency of funding to school sectors so that genuine need could be better identified and school Principals could better undertake their duties to students. Ms Trimper said today that: “School principals can only exercise the autonomy that is being proposed for them if there is full transparency of all its funding. How can you run a school if someone else decides how your funding is to be spent, or is unwilling to disclose the amounts that have been spent on the school’s behalf?”

“We want to ensure Australia’s school children get the best possible education at all levels of schooling. That is why we are calling for a national funding model in which State and Commonwealth contributions are wrapped into a single entitlement for each school that is posted on a national website. That will provide genuine transparency for all to see.”

Ms Trimper said that the three sectors had agreed that all Government and non-Government schools receiving government funding should be required to comply with a set of consistent operating principles, while the total per student income from government and private sources and recurrent expenditure per student should be made public annually.

Attachment – APPA funding principles:

1. Government recurrent funding of schools should be tied to student need without reference to school sector.

2. A single, national model should be used to calculate the amount of recurrent per student funding to which a school is entitled.

3. The model should bring together Commonwealth and State recurrent funding into a global per student entitlement reporting against the schools, the region and the state.

4. The recurrent funding provided through this model may be augmented by additional funds that must be disclosed on a school-by-school, per student basis.

5. The amount of recurrent funding for each school should be sufficient to assist all students to reach the national goals of schooling.

6. The model should fund primary and secondary students equally, irrespective of year level.

7. School system authorities should disclose the amount of government funding required to provide central and regional services on a per student basis in such a way that this amount, when combined with the amount of recurrent funding allocated to schools, includes all government funding for the system.

8. All government and non-government schools receiving government funding should comply with a limited set of operating principles permitting a faith-based education but requiring full transparency of school income and expenditure and admission policies consistent with anti-discrimination legislation.

9. Schools are encouraged to augment their government funding with income from private sources with the proviso that the total amount of funds from private sources per calendar year is reported.

10. The total per student income from government and private sources and recurrent expenditure per student should be made public annually.

11. A school’s funding entitlement should be adjusted to reflect a significant change in its enrolment profile.

12. The authority to disburse funds allocated to a school should reside in the school.

13. The development of any new funding model should involve extensive consultation with stakeholders, including APPA, and the disclosure of the evidence on which it is based.

14. A small, independent body should invigilate the funding arrangements, review from time to time the efficacy of the funding model, and commission appropriate research into school funding.

15. Adjustments to the funding allocative mechanisms should be announced at least four years in advance of the change taking effect.