NCEC’s Acting Executive Director Ray Collins. Photo: Supplied.
Families who choose a non-government schooling option will continue to be supported after the Federal Government last week announced important changes to its school funding arrangements.
The National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) fully supports the package of measures unveiled.
Acting Executive Director Ray Collins said the 2017 model created unintended consequences that threatened the future of low-fee, faith-based schools in remote and higher socio-economic status (SES) areas.
“Hundreds of primary schools would have been forced to double or triple their fees because of the previous model’s very narrow interpretation of ‘need’. This would have rendered those schools unaffordable to most Australian families, denying them the schooling choice that has been available in those areas for decades,” he said.
“Families can only have school choice if there is an affordable alternative to free, comprehensive government schools. If the only option is a high-fee school, choice is restricted to those parents rich enough to afford high fees.
“We commend the new Education Minister Dan Tehan for recognising that the 2017 changes had jeopardised the future of low-fee, low-expenditure schools in areas where they’ve served families for generations.”
Mr Collins stressed the changes will have no impact on funding levels for government schools, as they only affect funding support for non-government schools.
He said the government had accepted the Catholic sector’s position that a sector-blind, needs-based funding model would only work in practice if two fundamental issues were recognised and addressed.
Nationally, Catholic schools educate more than 765,000 students – or one in five Australian students – in 1741 schools, the vast majority of which are low-fee schools.
Catholic Schools NSW Chief Executive Dallas McInerney echoed Mr Collins’ sentiments.
“The new Federal Education Minister, Dan Tehan, deserves credit for recognising that the changes made to school funding last year threatened the future of low-fee non-government schools in some parts of the state,” Mr McInerney said.
“Faced with such a massive fee hike from Kindergarten to Year 6, most parents would have withdrawn their children and enrolled them in the free government school nearby. This has now been averted.
“It would have put more pressure on government schools and increased the cost to taxpayers who must fully fund government school students and only partly fund non-government school students,” he added.
“The government has recognised that needs-based funding policy for schools is to include the need for choice and diversity in our school sector.”