AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF

GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

PRESS RELEASE 885

 

PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS PAY APPROX $752 PER PUPIL

Or 

$1.8. BILLION A YEAR FOR ‘FREE’ PUBLIC  EDUCATION

3 April 2021

The  lib-lab attempts to privatise education in Australia is nowhere more apparent than in the way the ideal of ‘free’ education has been undermined in practice. Anna Hogan, a Senior lecturer at the Queensland University of  Technology, estimates $8 billion of private funding props up the private and public systems of Australia each year. In Victoria public school parents raised $400.1 million in 2015 for essential education requirements.

If education is to be accessible to every Australian child, and it is for the ‘common good’ then it should be free, and in no way dependent upon private funding.

It is to be expected that the private sector fees are substantial but what is scandalous is the amount raised by public school parents for the provision, not only of basic classroom material but even maintenance and refurbishment of infrastructure. As Anna Hogan notes

“The significant sums flowing into state education from private income sources – $1.8 billion for Australia’s 2.5 million state school students in 2015 – poses questions and challenges that have not been well researched.”

What is of greatest concern is that the basic tenet of ‘free ‘education in Australia is being undermined by our so-called democratic governments. By rewarding private fee paying schools with ever greater public subsidies and depriving public schools of basic facilities, our governments are forcing public school parents into raising private, often philanthropic funds for our public sector.

Public schools are not charities. Nor are they tax collectors propping up perceived deficits in government funding.

Nor should they be asked to advertise corporate funders or allow corporate visitors like the Commonwealth Bank to exploit young children and their families.

Moreover, growing dependence upon private fund raising in public schools is fuelling greater inequities not only between the private and public sector but within the public sector itself.

This is what Anna Hogan herself had to say about her research.

Public schools lean on $1.8b ‘private income’ – but is that a good thing? - UQ News - The University of Queensland, Australia

 

And

https://theconversation.com/some-public-schools-get-nearly-6-times-as-much-funding-thanks-to-parents-117268

 

 

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