Gonski fraud

Victorian Catholic schools will soon receive millions more in Commonwealth funding for students with a disability than state schools.

The changes reflect new data – which the Catholic sector has previously described as "dodgy" – that determines funding under the Turnbull government's Gonski 2.0 model.

 

Funding for students with a disability was previously based on medical assessments, but is now based on teachers' assessments of students' needs.

New federal Education Department figures show that Commonwealth disability loadings for Victorian Catholic schools will increase by 26 per cent, to $188 million in 2018. 

Disability loadings for Victorian state schools will grow incrementally, by 5.6 per cent, to $171.7 million, while those for independent schools will dip 4.5 per cent to $117.8 million.

Victorian state schools – which educate 71.3 per cent of funded students with a disability according to the Productivity Commission – were previously set to receive the largest share of Commonwealth disability funding.

Catholic schools were initially projected to lose disability funding next year.