By Marina Cameron
Since taking office, the federal Liberal government has implemented a number of measures to further deregulate the school system and shift funding away from public schools. New legislation has removed restrictions on the number of new federally funded non-government schools, on the size of federal grants they can receive, and abolished minimum and maximum enrolment limits. For each new student enrolling in a non-government school, $1712 will be stripped from current government school grants.
A study by Louise Watson from the Australian National University reported in the Australian on February 1 indicates that these changes will accelerate enrolment drifts from public to private schools, with the number of students going to non-government schools set to increase by 98,100 by the year 2000. This means that government schools could lose 23% of their funding over the next four years, while non-government schools pick up 12.5%.
A comparison with information on the school system in the US printed in the Financial Review on January 21 provides some disturbing indications of how far school privatisation in Australia has already gone and where the government's current "reform" of the school system is heading.
One in nine children in the US attend a private school. Fees range from $US3000 for younger years, up to $US15,000 per year or more. The most highly sought-after schooling is at elite colleges where tuition, room and board cost $US30,000 a year. Deregulation has led to fee rises of 234% since 1980 (average household income has only grown by 82%). Student loans have increased by 367% over the same period, but most costs come out of parents' pockets.
Education is so competitive and success so dependent on where children are schooled that education consultancy is a booming business. Consultants are employed to find the right school through hours of interviews and the construction of a psychological profile of the child, to prepare the child for school and to cushion the blow of rejection if necessary.
One in three Australian children attends a non-government school. Private school fees range between $3000 and $15,000 per year. At a number of private schools, fee rises well above the rate of inflation have accompanied the legislative changes.
The biggest growth sector in US private schooling is independent Christian schools. The new legislation here gives religious schools an edge in the competition for government funds, alongside a loosening of guidelines for syllabus. A independent Christian school on the NSW north-coast hit the headlines last week when it defied government bans on corporal punishment and called for parents to administer the cane themselves if necessary.
Paul Howes from the United Secondary Students Union (NSW) and a member of Resistance told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ that students are worried that the increased privatisation of schooling will mean that "inequalities in access to the same standard of education will grow". Howes points to a study released on January 2 showing a growing gap between those from higher and lower socioeconomic backgrounds who complete Year 12.