Volume 19, Issue 10

The May announcement of the State Budget in which no additional funding was allocated to the Catholic Schools sector has resulted in a fair amount of discussion within the Catholic community on the issue of funding for Catholic schools.

Catholic schools in Victoria receive from both the Victorian and Australian Governments together, 72% of the cost of educating a child, with the rest of the cost made up from fees. A Victorian government school receives 95% of school costs from government funding.

For every dollar spent on Victorian state schools, Victorian Catholic schools operate on only 77 cents, including fees. Victorian Catholic schools have the lowest level of resourcing of any school sector in Australia. As the poorer Catholic schools are the hardest hit by this under funding, the Catholic system redistributes funds from better off schools in an attempt to make up this significant gap.

Recently, comments were also made by the Federal Education Minister, Julia Gillard, about the current Socio Economic Status (SES) funding model for non-government schools. While the Rudd Government has committed itself to the present funding model until 2012, there has been a measure of anxiety raised amongst Catholic schools after the Minister was quoted in The Age recently as saying the present system is complex and confusing.

At a time when we are lobbying the State Government for equity of funding with government schools for capital works and students with disabilities, it is not helpful to have uncertainty on a federal level. The current SES funding model for non-government schools does ensure fairness and equity.

True, it may need some refinement, but to abandon a system which delivers certainty of funding for the vast majority of non-government schools would not be in the best interests of many Australians. If the review of the current model is done correctly, it will show that Victorian Catholic schools are under funded and in need of greater government support.

The Catholic sector has always held strongly the view that schools across all sectors, government, independent and Catholic, should be treated equitably in terms of funding by governments. Ultimately, parents have the right to choose the best education for their children. It is about parental choice, a principle supported by the Catholic community, which was enshrined in Victorian legislation in 2006 by the current State Government.

Stephen Elder is the Director of the Catholic Education Office Melbourne