AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
PRESS RELEASE 605#
STATE AID TO PRIVATE RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS IS
UNECONOMIC
IT EVER WAS, IS AND SHALL BE!
Since the 1960s DOGS have claimed that State Aid to private religious schools was too expensive- both uneconomic and divisive. But they were howled down and accused of being sectarian – by the sectarians! Many public school supporters ran from the facts, scared by the vituperative comments of the religious right and the voting power of insecure private school parents.
Private religious schools have never been interested in poor children. Only in power and money – more and more money for a resources arms race.
Now, those espousing various versions of the ‘Needs’ policy are confronted by the figures. At least they have the grace to admit it and put the figures into the public arena through ACER research. Consider the following from http://research.acer.edu.au/aer/14 and http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/education-experts-say-2-billion-has-been-wasted-on-private-schools-20150630-gi0pwt.html
A new report has argued that state and federal governments would have saved $2 billion annually over the past four decades had they educated private school students in the public school system."The reality is that increased public recurrent investment in non-government schools between 1973 and 2012 has increased the overall costs to governments rather than producing overall savings," the report's authors Lyndsay Connors and Jim McMorrow said. Professors Connors and McMorrow said the extra 634,068 students that were educated in private schools in 2012 could have been educated in government schools for $7.42 billion in 2012 as opposed to the $9.47 billion spent by the state and federal governments on independent schools in that year. It also found the relatively wealthier intake of students into the non-government sector had the effect of leaving government schools with an increasing share of students with higher needs and extra costs.
PERHAPS THE A.C.E.R COULD NOW LOOK AT THE RIDICULOUS COST OF DUPLICATION, TRIPLICATION ETC. OF PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES AS WE DIVIDE CHILDREN ON SECTARIAN CRITERIA DEMANDED BY RELIGIOUS LEADERS
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