Catholic Education WA (CEWA) has this week called on the state’s political parties to commit to providing state capital funding for Catholic schools.
One in five WA school children attend a Catholic school, and in seven locations in the Kimberley region CEWA is the sole education provider. Yet WA is the only part of Australia, other than the Northern Territory, where Catholic schools do not receive capital grant funding.
As a result, parents have to contribute for capital works through fundraising or school fees.
Additionally, under the current funding model for Australian schools, Government schools receive public funding based on what is required to support their students’ educational outcomes.
Unlike these schools, Catholic schools’ funding is adjusted by the capacity to contribute (as calculated by the Direct Measure of Income or DMI of families enrolled in each school).
This means Catholic School parents are required to pay fees to top-up the funding, contributing up to 52 per cent of their school’s total funding in 2023 without which this service could not be delivered.
Catholic Education WA Executive Director Wayne Bull said in WA, unlike other states, Catholic schools do not receive state government funding for capital despite parents, who are exercising school choice by enrolling their child in a Catholic school, contributing school fees on top of paying taxes.
“As political parties formulate their policy pitch to families, we urge them to put children first and provide equitable funding to all WA students by committing to providing capital funding for those almost 82,000 students who are enrolled in a Catholic school,” Mr Bull said.
Catholic education saves the State Government nearly $700 million each year by providing high quality education in 162 locations across WA.
Find out more at https://fairfunding.cewa.edu.au