Monday 22 May 2017

Catholic country schools subsidising big city schools

The Federal government releases data detrimental to Catholic Education which under 'normal circumstances' they would have kept secret to show that poor catholic schools are subsidising rich government schools. What interests me most is that it seems that country schools are the ones being shafted....surprise surprise! Who would have thought a few weeks ago that Birmingham and Pyne in particular would be attacking the system that Pyne said the coalition had an affinity with! Stunning stuff....imagine them visiting state schools for happy snaps!!! NO....it won't happen! 

This story from The Sydney Morning Herald.( Matthew Knott again, he must have mates in Birmingham's office) 


Catholic education authorities are short-changing needy schools by up to $1.5 million a year to help keep fees low at schools in wealthy areas in Sydney and Melbourne, government data reveals. 


The release of the previously secret Department of Education data comes as the peak body representing independent Christian schools called on the Catholic sector to stop campaigning against the government and support its school funding "breakthrough".

The Turnbull government will introduce its school funding changes into the House of Representatives for debate on Tuesday. 


The federal government funds Catholic schools on a needs basis but distributes the money to state and territory education commissions in a lump sum, which they distribute among schools as they see fit.

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Catholic Parish Primary School, a low-SES school in Melbourne's Epping North, received $1.86 million in 2015 – $1.49 million less than its federal government allocation.


The most socially disadvantaged Catholic school in Victoria, St Thomas Aquinas in Norlane, received 15 per cent less than its federal government funding allocation in 2015.

Meanwhile, St Columba's School in the affluent Melbourne suburb of Elwood received 15 per cent more funding than its federal government allocation. 

St Jerome's Catholic Primary School, a low socio-economic school in the western Sydney suburb of Punchbowl, received $2.71 million in funding in 2015 – $1.3 million less than its federal needs-based entitlement. 

By contrast, Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Pymble received $412,500 more than its federal funding allocation.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham on Monday said: "I think people would be very concerned if they thought that less well-off schools were subsidising wealthier schools. 

"But these really are matters for Catholic education to explain to its parents, to its constituent bodies."

Catholic school funding will increase by $1.2 billion over the next four years, he said. 

The data provided to Fairfax Media shows high-SES NSW Catholic primary schools in Coogee, Annandale and Woollahra were funded above their allocation, while low-SES schools in Tenterfield, Walgett and Campsie were significantly under-funded. 

Low-income Victorian Catholic schools in Tallangatta and Heathcote were funded significantly below their allocation, while high-SES schools in Caulfield and Ivanhoe East were overfunded.

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