Politics Shocking revelations on public vs private school funding

[Seeds]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-22/counting-the-cost-of-the-education-revolution/10495756

More than 4,400 public schools — over 70 per cent of the sector — received less public funding than at least one similar private school in 2016. In 2016, 35 per cent of Australia’s private schools received more public funding than the typical similar public school, up from 5 per cent in 2009. Most were low-fee Catholic schools.

Many advocates of school choice claim taxpayers automatically save money when parents fork out to send their child to a private school. This analysis busts that myth. The result is a worsening divide… that leaves schools at the other end facing a greater struggle.

The reason this has likely occured is because private schools are often funded at or even above their targets, while most public schools are funded well under their targets. The likely explanation is that many private schools get more public funding than they’re supposed to, whereas nearly all public schools get less.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Equity in Education report released in October, ranked Australia equal fourth for the most class-stratified education system among OECD nations, with disadvantage twice as concentrated as would be expected if social privilege were evenly distributed across all schools.

Where is the outrage? Shorten has a lot of blame here for taking the side of the catholic schools and forcing the government to backtrack on fixing the system. Is he really the right person for Labour?

 

[tandino]

Is the "one private school" representative of the broader private school system, or is it a statistical outlier?

 

[Seeds]

Is the "one private school" representative of the broader private school system, or is it a statistical outlier?

If its only one it will be the outlier of a subgroup based on schools of similar socio-educational advantage, size, location and type (which refers to primary, secondary or combined). The article isnt great at being specific about how many sub groups they have. The more subgroups the more damning would be the results. But the point of the article is that there is a lot more then one and why should there be one in the first place when compared against similar schools. There should be zero.

 

[Carn The Berries]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-22/counting-the-cost-of-the-education-revolution/10495756

More than 4,400 public schools — over 70 per cent of the sector — received less public funding than at least one similar private school in 2016. In 2016, 35 per cent of Australia’s private schools received more public funding than the typical similar public school, up from 5 per cent in 2009. Most were low-fee Catholic schools.

Many advocates of school choice claim taxpayers automatically save money when parents fork out to send their child to a private school. This analysis busts that myth. The result is a worsening divide… that leaves schools at the other end facing a greater struggle.

The reason this has likely occured is because private schools are often funded at or even above their targets, while most public schools are funded well under their targets. The likely explanation is that many private schools get more public funding than they’re supposed to, whereas nearly all public schools get less.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Equity in Education report released in October, ranked Australia equal fourth for the most class-stratified education system among OECD nations, with disadvantage twice as concentrated as would be expected if social privilege were evenly distributed across all schools.

Where is the outrage? Shorten has a lot of blame here for taking the side of the catholic schools and forcing the government to backtrack on fixing the system. Is he really the right person for Labour?

Firstly, from a readability perspective, that is probably the worst article I've ever read. Honestly feels like a school IT experiment with mucking around with an "edgy" layout. Just publish it like normal with charts interspersed through it FFS!

Secondly, and this may be partly because of how badly the data and analysis is laid out, it appears contradictory... The initial contention is that private schools receive more government funding than public schools yet in the data provided (I'd quote the chart number if it existed! The title is "Public Funding Per Student") seems to indicate the exact opposite being true.

It also only mentions the level of socio-economic advantage, which from a private school perspective, is only one small part of the calculation equation (and makes a very minimal adjustment to overall funding). The analysis would be much more meaningful if it were to use the school's SES score. I suspect the reason this hasn't been done is because this score may not be calculated for public schools however I can't confirm this.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Surely geelong_crazy26 should be telling his local Liberal member this.

 

[nicky]

Surely geelong_crazy26 should be telling his local Liberal member this.

SNAP!!!!
Lol, i came into this thread for the sole purpose of tagging GC.

 

[eastfreo75]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-22/counting-the-cost-of-the-education-revolution/10495756

More than 4,400 public schools — over 70 per cent of the sector — received less public funding than at least one similar private school in 2016. In 2016, 35 per cent of Australia’s private schools received more public funding than the typical similar public school, up from 5 per cent in 2009. Most were low-fee Catholic schools.

Many advocates of school choice claim taxpayers automatically save money when parents fork out to send their child to a private school. This analysis busts that myth. The result is a worsening divide… that leaves schools at the other end facing a greater struggle.

The reason this has likely occured is because private schools are often funded at or even above their targets, while most public schools are funded well under their targets. The likely explanation is that many private schools get more public funding than they’re supposed to, whereas nearly all public schools get less.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Equity in Education report released in October, ranked Australia equal fourth for the most class-stratified education system among OECD nations, with disadvantage twice as concentrated as would be expected if social privilege were evenly distributed across all schools.

Where is the outrage? Shorten has a lot of blame here for taking the side of the catholic schools and forcing the government to backtrack on fixing the system. Is he really the right person for Labour?

Catholic schools are actually by area not school. Then it is divided into the schools in that area. Therefore, it's not comparing apples with apples.

Also, another factor is that the school might be a richer area but the students can come from poorer areas. Therefore, the private school getting more money than a public school 5km is deceptive. Sometimes one street either side of suburb can result in $100's of difference in property prices.
5km could be like 2-3 suburbs away.

Plus, a small low fee private school would have more kid from a disadvantage than a public school in a wealthy area.

The writer needs to talk about specifics and then the schools and governments can have a right of reply. Gutless human being.

Yes, there will be funding that is outrageous but don't make something complex simply them vs us debate.

 

[Carn The Berries]

Catholic schools are actually by area not school. Then it is divided into the schools in that area. Therefore, it's not comparing apples with apples.

Also, another factor is that the school might be a richer area but the students can come from poorer areas. Therefore, the private school getting more money than a public school 5km is deceptive. Sometimes one street either side of suburb can result in $100's of difference in property prices.
5km could be like 2-3 suburbs away.

Plus, a small low fee private school would have more kid from a disadvantage than a public school in a wealthy area.

The writer needs to talk about specifics and then the schools and governments can have a right of reply. Gutless human being.

Yes, there will be funding that is outrageous but don't make something complex simply them vs us debate.

That's exactly right! It is trying to simplify what is a very, VERY complex funding structure that takes into account numerous variables that have been completely ignored in the "article". Have also seen snippets of it floating around on FB, which really helps stimulate debate....