BY JOHN GAUCI
Once upon a time the majority of commonwealth schools funding went to public schools. Successive Labor and Liberal governments have ensured this is no longer the case.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on education has significantly reduced from 3.6% in 1983-84 to 2.7% in 1997-98. More alarmingly, the commonwealth's state grants reports and budget estimates papers reveal that the proportion of federal government funding going to public schools in 1996 was 41.5%. It is estimated that by 2004, federal funding to public schools will be slashed to 34.1% ($2 billion a year) while 65.9% ($3.9 billion) will be siphoned into the private education system. This is despite 70% of children attending public schools.
Federal education minister David Kemp has repeatedly argued that the commonwealth's main obligation is to private schools. Kemp's education funding bill, which introduces "socio-economic status" (SES) funding for private schools is currently before the Senate. This bill aims to deliver massive funding increases to private schools while denying public schools any real increase in funding.
In an attempt to guilt-trip parents into sending their children to private schools, Kemp, with the enthusiastic backing of the mainstream media, has invented a "crisis" by insinuating that public schools are not doing enough for literacy. According to the federal Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, total commonwealth funding for literacy and numeracy programs will be $193.8 million.
Kemp's new formula
Kemp's new formula for funding private schools involves allocating funds to institutions based on where the parents of school students live, rather than on the cost of attending the school. The model fails to make any assessment of the fund-raising capacity of schools or the level of existing resources.
According to Education (the journal of the NSW Teachers Federation): "If a rich family lives in a poor area then their school will attract a higher level of funding than a private school where the parents are surrounded by wealthy neighbours. Schools with boarders from rural areas will attract higher levels of funding, because most rural areas are poorer than many urban areas. The wealthiest families from a rural area depend on the poverty of their neighbours to attract high levels of funding to their schools."
Indeed, the Howard government has been encouraging private schools to cream off students from poorer areas by offering them scholarships that will inevitably attract higher levels of federal funding.
The Coalition government's proposed bill becomes even more outrageous when the funding of indigenous students is considered. While 88.1% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students attend public schools, private schools will receive an increase of 87.2% in indigenous funds while public schools will receive a meagre 6.2% increase.
Furthermore, the funding doesn't take into account the quality of education provided by particular schools, aside from a requirement to meet Kemp's unspecified "performance targets". Consequently, the Athena School, a Church of Scientology school based on the teachings of cult personality L. Ron Hubbard, will receive more than $160,000 a year for 62 students.
Establishment grants of $500 per student will be available to new private schools. This will not be subject to a means test.
Under the proposed scheme, a private school can raise as many resources as it likes through fees, investment and property ownership and be as well endowed as it likes without affecting the level of government funding. Schools may also be bankrolled by private interests. The Malek Fahd Islamic school in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown, for example, was established by a $12 million gift by the Saudi Arabian government. It will receive $7.5 million of federal funding under Kemp's scheme.
The introduction of new private schools and the expansion of existing ones will ensure that the public education system will continue to lose funding, thus further eroding its inclusive nature. Much like the public health system, public education will be seen as a safety net system for the majority unable to afford a private school.
Labor's record
Channelling public funds into private schools is not an exclusively Coalition obsession. In the mid-1970s Gough Whitlam's federal Labor government redirected public funding to private schools, including to the extensive network of Catholic schools. The Hawke and Keating Labor governments also favoured private schools and reduced public education's share of federal school funding.
More recently, while criticising the Howard government for its plans to further increase funding of private schools, the NSW Labor government hypocritically handed over $500 million to the private school system.
Labor, Democrat and Green senators have ruled out rejecting the proposed bill in its entirety. The ALP actually stood in the way of a number of amendments to the legislation moved by the Democrats and Greens Senator Bob Brown. The amendments would have reduced amount of funding that would have gone from the public system to private schools.
The most important amendment, moved by Senator Brown, would have bought an independent review of funding as soon as possible after Kemp's bill was enacted. The Democrats took a softer position being prepared to wait until two years after commencement of the new scheme. The ALP did support a number of less controversial amendments.
The ALP's education spokesperson, Michael Lee, has already conceded that Labor will support the government's proposal if Kemp refuses to accept Senate amendments. Defending this position, Lee said Labor's "strategy" has been designed to "place maximum pressure on the government to accept these amendments".
Brown has indicated he will continue to oppose the legislation. The Democrats have not yet declared how they will respond if the government rejects the Senate amendments.
NSW Greens' position
According to their web site, the NSW Greens are committed to defeating the bill. They are also calling upon NSW education minister John Aquilina and the state Labor government to protect NSW public schools if the bill is passed.
The Greens have developed a range of measures that focus on the state government's $500 million in direct and indirect annual subsidies to private schools. These measures aim to reduce the amount of government funding to private schools while making these schools more publicly accountable, and to guarantee that a growing proportion of education funding goes to public education.
While these measures, if enacted, would be significant step in reversing the federal government's attack on the public school system, they fail to address the real question: why should any public funding at all go to private schools?
Some advocates of this funding argue that many teaching positions would be lost if the government were to stop funding private schools. In reality, the current trend of teachers moving across to a better-funded private system would be reversed. More teachers would be required in the public system if all of the commonwealth and the states' school funding went exclusively to public schools.
If all the money spent on private schools was redirected to public schools, all school students would be able to receive a fairer start in life and have access to continuing education throughout life.
Public schools and colleges are open to all, regardless of religion, race, culture, disability or socio-economic circumstance. They educate students from different backgrounds together and thus help to break-down divisions within the population based on religion, race or national origin.
Kemp's arguments about creating "choices" are ridiculous. Not all parents can afford the fees charged by private schools. Furthermore, private schools are in the real position of choice, with the ability to exclude any child outside their selection criteria. Public education is the only truly inclusive system.
If all sectors of society shared a vested interest in public education, there would be far greater pressure to maintain an education system of the highest standard.