By Anthony Barich
WA Catholic Education Office director Ron Dullard has warned that remote schools in the Kimberley are at risk if funded on an individual basis based on student numbers.
The Federal Government is currently reviewing funding arrangements for
all schools for the first time since 1973, and the National Catholic
Education Commission, of which the WA CEO is a member, lodged its
submission on 31 March.
The NCEC’s submission called for maintaining block funding to State and
Territory Catholic Education Commissions so Catholic school systems can
continue to distribute funds to schools like those in the Kimberley
according to assessed local need.
“Independent schools don’t cross subsidise or help each other; that’s
not our system. We recognise that we know our schools best and we know
where to give the support, like Clontarf and remote Kimberley schools
which would not survive if given the amount of money generated by the
number of students that they have,” Mr Dullard told The Record.
A key part of the NCEC’s submission was appealing for equity in funding
for disabilities, Indigenous students, those in remote areas, new
arrivals and refugees for whom English is a second language, in order to
achieve better educational outcomes.
“They should get the same amount for their disability [or learning
challenges] as if they were in a State school,” Mr Dullard said.
Currently, students with a disability get a loading of up to 0.7 over
and above that of a ‘standard’ student, but “the cost for educating a
child with a disability could be substantially higher, so, to be
equitable, the severity of the disability should attract funding to
allow them to operate effectively”.The NCEC, which represents 1,700
Catholic schools with 704,000 students, 20 per cent of students in
Australia, said funding should be on a 12 year legislative basis with
four-yearly reviews.
In WA, there are 158 Catholic schools in WA with 71,000 students.
Despite the Catholic Church being the second-largest provider of
education in Australia, the Catholic sector receives proportionally less
than independent and government schools.
In 2009, the Catholic sector had the lowest net recurrent income per
student everywhere except the NT, with $10,008 compared with $11,132 for
the government sector and $13,711 for independents.
“We would argue that we do it effectively and efficiently because of
large involvement with parents in their child’s education using school
boards etc, that we actually devolve decision making to school level
where principals are employers,” Mr Dullard said.
At a minimum, the NCEC said it wants no reduction in overall funding in
real terms to enable Catholic Education to continue to provide high
quality, ‘high equity’ education.
“We’re asking for more – about 62.5 per cent of the average cost of
educating a child in a State school. Presently, it’s at about 58 per
cent,” Mr Dullard said.
The new National curriculum to be rolled out by 2014 will also require
extra funding to help teachers “get their heads around the content”.
This is especially the case for early childhood learning and the changes
in maths and science at Years 6 and 7. Students will need greater
support from specialist teachers which they would otherwise receive in
schools where Year 7 is now part of high school.
A coordinator has also been appointed to build cooperation and sharing
of material across the Catholic, independent and government sectors to
help implement the new curriculum.
The NCEC’s submission revealed that Catholic schools will need
substantial funding in the nine years, detailing building needs to 2020
worth $2.26 billion for refurbishment and $2.39 billion for new school
places which grow at three per cent annually.
The NCEC argues for ‘appropriate’, ‘meaningful’ and ‘coordinated’
accountability rather than simply ‘more accountability’, which it
believes is a dangerous slogan being used by government bureaucrats.
The NCEC’s submission said Catholic schools are to a large extent able
to overcome student socio-economic barriers to schooling success and
produce high equity and quality outcomes when measured against
international sample data.