Calls for special deal to be struck for NT, which has biggest funding gap between public and private schools
Australian public school funding falls behind private schools as states fail to meet targets
Submitted 11 months ago by LineNoise@kbin.social to australia@aussie.zone
lordriffington@aussie.zone 11 months ago
I’m not knowledgeable enough to be able to say whether the burden of funding for schools should be on states or the federal government, though at least with the states holding the majority of the burden it means that federal LNP governments aren’t totally fucking up education for everyone.
That said, the only acceptable funding model (regardless of where the money comes from) is a base rate per student no matter what school they’re in, then additional funding for public schools only.
UnknownQuantity@lemmy.world 11 months ago
There is a public school system available to everyone. If people want to send their kids to private schools, they have every right to, but should be prepared to cover 100% of the expenses without any aid from the government.
Nath@aussie.zone 11 months ago
That sounds like it should be the case, but it isn’t. The Catholic schools alone account for something like 20% of the Australian student population. If just those schools weren’t there, our existing education system would collapse. Like it or not, we all rely on the presence of independant schools in our community.
This argument has been made before. In 1962, it lead to six Catholic schools to Goulburn to go on strike. The influx of 5,000 students on the public schools in the area demonstrated that independant schools save taxpayers money. Go have a read about it: …org.au/…/goulburn-catholic-school-strike
Imagine that on a national scale. And again, that’s just the Catholics. There is not capacity in the public system for every student in Australia. Not by a long shot.
billytheid@aussie.zone 11 months ago
No. If your school turns a profit you get nothing. No more corporate welfare
Nath@aussie.zone 11 months ago
I am ok with the government giving money to private schools. I personally never went to one, and my kids don’t either.
But every kid is entitled to $x per year funding. Some parents are rich enough to contribute more above that, but they still entitled to the same government funding that every other kid gets.
You can’t on one hand say ‘tax the rich’, then a minute later deny them services. That would be unfair.
stoic_sloth@aussie.zone 11 months ago
People say this, but if we did as you suggest, there would be massive complaints that parents can’t freely choose their public schools due to catchments.
Further, it doesn’t preclude privates from charging extra on top, so you would still have a two tier education system as they private schools can attract the talent and teach only the best/easiest/richest students.
The fundamental issue of education is that if a school can choose its students, it will be a better school.
Our best public schools are basically either selective entry or just “happen” to be in suburbs with rich people or have a large population of Asians.
lordriffington@aussie.zone 11 months ago
Yeah, and if parents want their kids to go to the private schools, let the damn parents pay for it. Not the government. The entire point is for the lion’s share of government funding to go to schools open to all (or at least all students within a catchment area) and who are bound to adhere to the same rules as every other government-funded school.
Private schools are already charging extra. Let them charge more. The only change is that those parents who do want to send their kids to private school will either have to pay the extra or accept that their kids will have to go to a public school.
It ultimately comes down to funding. Pretty much all of those ‘better’ public schools have more money than the others, mostly due to being in higher income areas and having parents who are able to contribute more, give to fundraisers, etc.