Gonski is on the Right Track – Money Does Matter for Disadvantaged Students

Posted on Tuesday June 18, 2013

The Gonski funding model is on the right track in boosting funding for under-resourced schools and disadvantaged students. The refusal of the Victorian, Queensland, Western Australian and Northern Territory governments to sign on to Gonski will deprive low income, Indigenous and remote area students of the chance to improve their results. >> Read on...

Studies Show that Money Does Matter

Posted on Tuesday June 18, 2013

A research review has found that money does matter in education. Increasing school funding improves student results and that more targeted spending benefits students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Gonski is on the right track. >> Read on...

The Gillard School Funding Plan is a Watershed But is Not the Full Gonski

Posted on Wednesday June 12, 2013

The Gillard school funding plan is a potential watershed for school funding in Australia. It breaks new ground with its focus on increasing equity in education. However, it is not the full Gonski. >> Read on...

The OECD Endorses Gonski

Posted on Tuesday April 30, 2013

The OECD has endorsed the findings of the Gonksi report on school funding that the current system lacks coherence and transparency and that reducing inequities in education is a key policy challenge for Australia. >> Read on...

The Economic Case for Gonski

Posted on Wednesday April 24, 2013

The economic case for the $6.5 billion investment in disadvantaged schools and students recommended by the Gonski review of school funding is just as compelling as the equity and social justice case. >> Read on...

New School Funding Model Should Include Big Loadings for Disadvantaged Students

Posted on Thursday March 21, 2013

The national partnerships on literacy and numeracy and low SES schools have not increased student results to any significant extent. The reason is that the funding per student is very small. The funding loadings for disadvantaged students under the new school funding model will have to be large to make a sustainable difference to school outcomes for these students. >> Read on...

Private Schools to Triple-Dip Under Baillieu Plan

Posted on Tuesday March 5, 2013

Private schools around Australia and in Victoria would get a hidden windfall gain of up to $90 million a year from the Baillieu funding plan. A funding system that allows private schools to triple-dip on the taxpayer is an outrage and must be replaced. >> Read on...

The Economics of Gonski

Posted on Tuesday February 19, 2013

There is a compelling economic case for increasing funding for disadvantaged schools as recommended by the Gonski review of school funding. Low student achievement and school completion rates impose high economic costs. >> Read on...

The Federal Govt. Should End the Secrecy on its School Funding Model

Posted on Tuesday December 4, 2012

The Federal Government should end the secrecy on its preferred school funding model. The secret negotiations with state governments and private schools should be opened up to include government school organisations and the public. < >> Read on...

O’Farrell Refuses to Budge on School Funding Cuts

Posted on Sunday November 25, 2012

NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell, has rebuffed a call by an unprecendented coalition of government and private school organisations to reverse the plan to cut $1.7 billion from the NSW education budget over the next four years. >> Read on...

The Real Class War on Display

Posted on Saturday August 25, 2012

The real class war in education was on show this week as political leaders scurried to appease the rich and powerful. The Prime Minister effectively gave another $1.5 billion to better-off private schools while the Leader of the Opposition simply promised more. This extra funding for the well-off would be much better spent on disadvantaged government and private schools. >> Read on...

Is Gillard Preparing to Dump Gonski?

Posted on Friday July 13, 2012

There are disturbing signs that the Gillard Government is preparing to dump the Gonski report and blame Coalition state governments for its failure to act on the report. >> Read on...

School Kids Bonus is Money for Anything But Education

Posted on Wednesday May 9, 2012

The Government’s new school kids bonus grant to families to replace the tax rebate on education expenses is an education payment in name only. It can be spent on anything. It would be much better spent on lifting the education outcomes of disadvantaged students. >> Read on...

High SES Catholic Schools are Over-Funded

Posted on Friday April 6, 2012

A new research paper published by Save Our Schools shows that virtually all high SES Catholic combined and secondary schools in Australia are over-funded. This over-funding should be diverted to better support disadvantaged schools and students. >> Read on...

Gillard Should Go it Alone on Gonski

Posted on Thursday March 1, 2012

Government schools are vulnerable to getting nothing out of the Gonski review because of federal/state wrangling while private schools get massive over-funding guaranteed for another five years. The Gillard Government should go it alone and increase funding for government schools. >> Read on...

Just How Independent was the Gonski Review?

Posted on Sunday February 26, 2012

A puzzling aspect of the Gonski review of school funding is that the Government’s policy that no school would lose a dollar of funding as a result of the review is not in the terms of reference of the inquiry. It raises the question of whether the review went beyond its terms of reference in following this policy.< >> Read on...

Gillard Turns Her Back on the Disadvantaged

Posted on Thursday February 23, 2012

The Gillard Government has turned its back on disadvantaged students by refusing to commit to the funding increase recommended by the Gonski report which would primarily benefit government schools. A new “no losers” guarantee incorporated in the model may mean that many private schools get a funding increase to put them in line with the so-called funding maintained schools. >> Read on...

Gonski Review Should Terminate Funding Bonanza for the Wealthy

Posted on Thursday February 16, 2012

In 2011, 20 primary and secondary schools in high income Melbourne suburbs were over-funded by $43 million. Total Federal Government funding for these schools was nearly double what they were entitled to under the SES scheme. The scheme should be terminated and replaced by one designed to reduce disadvantage in education. >> Read on...

It is Government Schools Which Are Under-Funded, Not Private Schools

Posted on Tuesday February 7, 2012

Claims that Catholic schools are under-funded in comparison with government schools are simplistic and misleading. It is government schools which are under-funded because they do the heavy lifting in education. They enrol the vast majority of low income, Indigenous, remote area and disability students. >> Read on...

Fee Increases Outstrip Cost Increases in Elite Private Schools in Queensland

Posted on Friday January 20, 2012

School fees in Queensland’s elite private schools have increased by nearly 6% in 2012, well over cost increases of 3.9%. Eleven elite schools will get $57 million in Federal Government funding in 2012. >> Read on...

Private School Funding Figures are a Shambles

Posted on Friday January 13, 2012

The latest National Report on Schooling in Australia presents widely differing figures on private school funding. One series has private school funding increasing by 9% between 2005-06 and 2008-09 while the other shows an increase of 33%. One series has government funding of private schools increasing by less than government school funding while the other shows private school funding increasing much faster than government school funding. The report fails to explain these differences. < >> Read on...

Govt. Funding Increases Have Favoured the Wealthiest Schools

Posted on Tuesday January 10, 2012

New figures show that Australia’s wealthiest school sector received the biggest increases in government funding over much of the past decade. Government schools received the smallest increase. >> Read on...

Fee Increases Outstrip Cost Increases in Elite Private Schools in Victoria

Posted on Tuesday December 20, 2011

School fees in Victoria’s elite private schools are set to increase by nearly 6% in 2012. At Geelong Grammar they will top $30,000 for the first time. Several others will pass $25,000 for the first time. Yet, they will rake in nearly $100 million in federal government funding in 2012. The Gonski Review of School Funding must put a stop to this upper class welfare.< >> Read on...

Private Schools Will Get a Funding Bonanza from Voucher Models

Posted on Friday December 9, 2011

Voucher funding models proposed to the School Funding Review would deliver a massive funding boost to private schools and give them a huge resource advantage over government schools. The biggest funding increases would go to the wealthiest private schools. >> Read on...

The Pressure is on the Gonksi Review to Deliver on Equity

Posted on Wednesday November 23, 2011

If the Gonski Review of school funding is to deliver on its own equity goal it must deliver a new school funding model that restricts funding for wealthy private schools and provide a large boost in funding for government schools. < >> Read on...

C.I.S Funding Model Provides More for Private Schools

Posted on Friday November 4, 2011

The funding model proposed by the Centre for Independent Studies fails the equity test. It provides increased government funding for the large majority of private schools, maintains government funding for wealthy private schools and gives no funding increase to government schools even though they enrol the vast majority of disadvantaged students. >> Read on...

Govt. Largesse of $6m for Geelong Grammar

Posted on Tuesday October 25, 2011

Geelong Grammar’s fees will top $30,000 in 2012. It serves the wealthiest families in Australia and will get over $6 million in government funding in 2012. Meanwhile, neighbouring government schools serving some of the most disadvantaged families in the country are denied adequate funding to meet their challenges. It points to the need to change the current school funding system. >> Read on...

Budget Gives Priority to Funding Privilege and Market-Based Programs

Posted on Wednesday May 18, 2011

Equity in education is the major loser in the Commonwealth Schools Budget as the Labor Government continues to give greater priority to funding privilege and market-based programs than reducing disadvantage in education. >> Read on...

An Alternative Funding Model for Government and Private Schools

Posted on Thursday May 12, 2011

A brief summary of the new funding model for government and private schools recommended to the Gonski Review of School Funding by Save Our Schools. < >> Read on...

SOS Calls for Increased Funding for Govt Schools and a New Funding Model for Private Schools

Posted on Thursday April 21, 2011

The Save Our Schools submission to the Gonski School Funding Review calls for a boost in government school funding and a new funding model to replace the SES funding model for private schools. >> Read on...

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