A Moving Target In 2011 the Gonski Review found an “imbalance between the funding responsibilities of the Australian Government and state and territory governments across the schooling sectors,”3 and recommended that “Australian governments should fully publicly fund the recurrent costs of schooling for government schools as measured by the resource standard per student amounts and loadings.”4 In. [...] In 2022 and since, the ALP promised to put all public schools on a pathway to full funding,6 but is now offering to provide 22.5% of the SRS—half the amount needed to match the full SRS. [...] On the reasonable assumption that the achievement of those 4 benefits (including via economic activity in the education sector, productivity and wage premia for school completers, and social and fiscal savings) are broadly proportionate to the extent to which underfunding is alleviated, then the foregone spin-off benefits from the government’s continued underfunding can be apportioned accordingly. [...] Lifting the federal share of funding to 25% of the SRS would thus eliminate 40% of the funding gap, and progress Australia’s public school system toward the multi-dimensional benefits outlined above. [...] (Ideally, of course, that 25% funding commitment would be arranged as part of a joint package with state governments committing to 75% without the use of the “capital depreciation and additional allowance”, to attain full SRS funding from both levels of government.) The second column of Table 2 summarizes the proportionate economic and fiscal benefits that would be achieved in each of those three.
Authors
- Pages
- 8
- Published in
- Australia
Table of Contents
- Summary 1
- The Economic Importance of Public Schools 2
- A Moving Target 3
- In 2022 and since the ALP promised to put all public schools on a pathway to full funding but is now offering to provide 22.5 of the SRShalf the amount needed to match the full SRS. 3
- Continuing Commonwealth Underfunding 3
- Table 1 4
- Commonwealth Government SRS Funding Ratios 2023 4
- Cmwlth Funding 4
- Share of 4
- SRS 4
- Est. Total SRS 4
- Funding 4
- SRS 4
- Funding 4
- Ratio 4
- Est. 4
- Actual Funding 4
- Est. 4
- Cmwlth Share m 4
- Cmwlth Share 4
- 3204 20.0 16018 88.2 14127 1890 801 42.4 4
- 2544 20.0 12721 86.4 10991 1730 636 36.8 4
- 2340 20.0 11702 85.3 9981 1720 585 34.0 4
- 723 20.0 3614 91.0 3288 325 181 55.6 4
- 1168 20.0 5841 91.0 5315 526 292 55.6 4
- 237 20.0 1187 90.1 1069 117 59 50.5 4
- 162 20.0 811 100.0 811 0 41 Nm 4
- 221 21.5 1028 76.2 783 245 36 14.7 4
- TOTAL 4
- Leaving Money on the Table 4
- Table2 5
- Foregone Economic Gains From Continuing SRS Underfunding 5
- Estimated 5
- Gains from Full 5
- SRS Funding 5
- Commonwealth 5
- Share 5
- Left on the 5
- Table Foregone 5
- Gains from 5
- 22.5 Policy 5
- Direct Economic Footprint of Public Schools 5
- Labour Market and Productivity Gains 5
- Broader Social and Fiscal Savings 5
- Combined Savings 5
- As noted above the combined GDP gains from these three channels of benefit are expected to cumulate to 6
- Conclusion 7
- References 8
- The Guardian 8
- Review of Funding for Schooling Final Report 8
- Universal Basic Skills What Countries Stand to Gain 8
- Australian Government Funding for Schools Explained 2013 Update 8
- The Case for Investing in Public Schools The Economic and Social Benefits of Public Schooling in Australia 8
- The Role of Innovation and Human Capital for the Productivity of Industries Policy Paper No. 103 8
- How School Funding Fails Public Schools How to Change for the Better 8
