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Review of Funding for Schooling Final Report | December 2011 Review of Funding for Schooling Final Report
Expert panel David Gonski AC, Chair Ken Boston AO Kathryn Greiner AO Carmen Lawrence Bill Scales AO Peter Tannock AM ISBN 978-0-642-78222-9 [PRINT] ISBN 978-0-642-78223-6 [PDF] ISBN 978-0-642-78224-3 [RTF]
Disclaimer: The material contained in this report has been developed by the Review of Funding for Schooling. The views and opinions expressed in the materials do not necessarily reflect the views of or have the endorsement of the Australian Government or of any Minister, or indicate the Australian Government’s commitment to a particular course of action. The Australian Government and the Review of the Funding for Schooling accept no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents and accept no liability in respect of the material contained in the report.
For enquiries please contact: Review of Funding for Schooling Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations GPO Box 9880 CANBERRA CITY ACT 2601
Review of Funding for Schooling
The Hon Peter Garrett AM MP Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600
Dear Minister
On 15 April 2010, the then Federal Minister for Education, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, initiated a review of funding arrangements for schooling to develop a funding system which is transparent, fair, financially sustainable and effective in promoting excellent educational outcomes for all Australian students.
The review’s terms of reference require the review to report to the Federal Minister with responsibility for school education. Accordingly, on behalf of the panel leading the review, I am pleased to present our final report, Review of Funding for Schooling: Final Report.
The review process has spanned many months and attracted immense public interest. More than 7000 written submissions have been provided to the review, and the panel has met with hundreds of professionals and stakeholders in the school education community.
We have been heartened by the strong and passionate interest in school education that has been evident throughout the review process. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the review, particularly the stakeholders who were so generous with their time in meeting with the panel.
I also express my gratitude to my colleagues on the panel; Ken Boston AO, Kathryn Greiner AO, Carmen Lawrence, Bill Scales AO, and Peter Tannock AM. Terrey Arcus AM also provided invaluable support to the panel and I thank him.
From commencement the panel was blessed with an excellent secretariat and we are most grateful. I thank Madonna Morton who initially led and established the team. Louise Hanlon, who has led the secretariat from April 2011 to completion of the report, should be congratulated on her outstanding leadership.
The panel has been conscious of delivering a comprehensive response to our terms of reference that would allow you and the Australian Government time to consider the changes you wish to make for funding arrangements for schooling in Australia for the period beyond 2013.
The panel is strongly of the view that the proposed funding arrangements outlined in the report are required to drive improved outcomes for all Australian students, and to ensure that differences in educational outcomes are not the result of differences in wealth, income, power or possessions.
Yours sincerely
David Gonski AC
Chair
Executive summary High-quality schooling fosters the development of creative, informed and resilient citizens who are able to participate fully in a dynamic and globalised world. It also leads to many benefits for individuals and society, including higher levels of employment and earnings, and better health, longevity, tolerance and social cohesion.
Overall, Australia has a relatively high-performing schooling system when measured against international benchmarks, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment. However, over the last decade the performance of Australian students has declined at all levels of achievement, notably at the top end. This decline has contributed to the fall in Australia’s international position. In 2000, only one country outperformed Australia in reading and scientific literacy and only two outperformed Australia in mathematical literacy. By 2009, six countries outperformed Australia in reading and scientific literacy and 12 outperformed Australia in mathematical literacy.
In addition to declining performance across the board, Australia has a significant gap between its highest and lowest performing students. This performance gap is far greater in Australia than in many Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, particularly those with high-performing schooling systems. A concerning proportion of Australia’s lowest performing students are not meeting minimum standards of achievement. There is also an unacceptable link between low levels of achievement and educational disadvantage, particularly among students from low socioeconomic and Indigenous backgrounds.
Funding for schooling must not be seen simply as a financial matter. Rather, it is about investing to strengthen and secure Australia’s future. Investment and high expectations must go hand in hand. Every school must be appropriately resourced to support every child and every teacher must expect the most from every child.
The task of the panel The review was established to develop a funding system for Australian schooling which is transparent, fair, financially sustainable and effective in promoting excellent outcomes for all Australian students.
The panel acknowledges that schools contribute to a much broader range of outcomes for students than those currently measured by governments and which receive the greatest attention in this report. Likewise, parents choose to send their children to a particular school on the basis of more than academic results. For the purpose of this report and to adhere to the terms of reference, the panel has focused on funding for schooling and its impact on outcomes as they are currently measured by governments both nationally and internationally.
The panel considered the funding needs of students from all schools across the government, Catholic and independent school sectors. It considered the current arrangements for providing Australian Government and state and territory funding to schools, as well as other sources of school income.
In addition, the panel reflected on the forms of accountability employed by the schooling sectors, as well as the data required to monitor and assess standards of delivery and educational outcomes.
The task of understanding and responding to the challenges of the current funding arrangements for schooling is complex. There are significant differences in the way Australian schools are organised across sectors, as well as differences in the demographics of the student bodies and the challenges faced by sectors and states.
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�There are also differences in the way schools are funded by the Australian Government and state and territory governments across sectors and states, including different approaches to supporting educationally disadvantaged students. Further, there is not a consistent approach across states and territories to collecting and reporting data on certain student cohorts, nor on the effectiveness of funding in meeting the educational needs of students.
The panel has concluded that Australia must aspire to have a schooling system that is among the best in the world for its quality and equity, and must prioritise support for its lowest performing students. Every child should have access to the best possible education, regardless of where they live, the income of their family or the school they attend. Further, no student in Australia should leave school without the basic skills and competencies needed to participate in the workforce and lead successful and productive lives. The system as a whole must work to meet the needs of all Australian children, now and in the future.
The panel believes that the key to achieving this vision is to strengthen the current national schooling reforms through funding reform.
The foundations for change Over recent years, a number of historic steps have been made to improve Australia’s schooling system. In December 2008, the Australian Government and state and territory Education Ministers released the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (Melbourne Declaration), setting out the national purpose and policy for Australian schooling for the next 10 years. The goals focus on promoting equity and excellence in schooling, and on young Australians becoming successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens. Central to realising these goals is providing all students with access to high-quality schooling.
National priorities and reforms have also been agreed by all governments through the Council of Australian Governments to progress the national goals. Key policy directions under the National Education Agreement include improving teacher quality and school leadership, greater accountability and better directed resources, integrated strategies for low socioeconomic school communities, and improving the outcomes of Indigenous students. National curriculum is being developed to set clear achievement standards for all students. The My School website is providing public access to information about school performance and resources.
While these reforms lay a good foundation for addressing Australia’s schooling challenges, they need to be supported by an effective funding framework.
Australia needs effective arrangements for funding schools across all levels of government— arrangements that ensure resources are being provided where they are needed. The funding arrangements should be aimed at achieving an internationally competitive high standard of schooling, where outcomes are not determined by socioeconomic status or the type of school the child attends, and where the Australian Government and state and territory governments work in partnership to meet the schooling needs of all Australian children.
Issues with the current funding arrangements When considered holistically, the current funding arrangements for schooling are unnecessarily complex, lack coherence and transparency, and involve a duplication of funding effort in some areas. There is an imbalance between the funding responsibilities of the Australian Government and state and territory governments across the schooling sectors.
also be better coordinated so that funding effort can be maximised, particularly effort to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged students.
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�A new schooling resource standard The panel recommends that all recurrent funding for schooling, whether it is provided by the Australian Government or state and territory governments, be based on a new schooling resource standard.
The schooling resource standard would:
• form the basis for general recurrent funding for all students in all schooling sectors • consist of separate per student amounts for primary school students and secondary school
students
• provide loadings for the additional costs of meeting certain educational needs. These loadings
would take into account socioeconomic background, disability, English language proficiency, the particular needs of Indigenous students, school size, and school location
• be based on actual resources used by schools already achieving high educational outcomes for
their students over a sustained period of time
• recognise that schools with similar student populations require the same level of resources
regardless of whether they are located in the government, Catholic or independent school sectors
• be periodically reviewed every four years so that it continues to reflect community aspirations and,
in between reviews, be indexed using a simple measure that is based on the actual increase in costs in schools already achieving the relevant high educational outcomes over a sustained period of time.
Further collaborative work involving all governments and sectors will be required to settle the levels of the schooling resource standard per student amounts and loadings in the lead-up to implementation from 2014. Ongoing responsibility for indexing and reviewing the resource standard should be entrusted to an independent and expert National Schools Resourcing Body.
A fairer funding framework The per student amount plus loadings would represent the total resources required by a school to provide its students with the opportunity to achieve high educational outcomes for their students over a sustained period of time. It would be funded from public funding from all levels of government, as well as any private sources.
In recognition of the role of the government sector as a universal provider of schooling, all government schools would be fully publicly funded to the level of the schooling resource standard plus any applicable loadings.
In the non-government sector, public funding would generally be provided based on the anticipated level of a school’s private contribution. The private contribution anticipated for a school would be initially based on the socioeconomic status (SES) score of the school, reflecting the capacity of the school community to support the school. Work would commence as a priority to develop, trial and implement a more precise measure of capacity to contribute.
A minimum private contribution of at least 10 per cent of the schooling resource standard per student amounts would be anticipated for non-government schools in the lowest quarter of school SES scores, that is, with a score up to between 90 and 95. A maximum private contribution of up to between 75 and 80 per cent would be anticipated for schools with an SES score above around 130.
Some non-government schools would be fully publicly funded where they serve students or communities with very high levels of need, for example, special schools, majority Indigenous schools, and remote ‘sole provider’ schools.