Rich schools get richer....even in the state system

By Henrietta Cook in the Age

Melbourne’s most advantaged state schools are reaping four times the money from parent levies than their poorer counterparts, new research has found.

The study raises concerns about growing inequity within the public education system and has sparked calls for greater oversight 

While parents at the poorest state schools forked out an average of $408 for each child every year, those at the most advantaged state schools stumped up $1430, according to research by Deakin and Murdoch universities.

It found that the average annual cost of sending a child to a state school in metropolitan Melbourne is $846, a big burden for many parents.

Langwarrin mother Melanie said she had to borrow money from her sister and fell behind with her electricity bills when her twin children, Molly and Blake, started Year 7 this year.

“I thought, ‘How am I going to do this'?” Melanie said. “It was quite overwhelming.”

She scoured op shops for shirts that matched Elisabeth Murdoch College's uniform. And for the first few weeks of class, Blake didn’t wear the school jacket because his family couldn’t afford it.

“I have to get double of everything, every cent I have has gone to this,” Melanie said.

“We haven’t been able to do anything special for months, because money is so tight. We had no fun over school holidays.”

Parent payments include essential learning items such as textbooks, uniforms, stationery, camps, music programs and excursions. While they include voluntary payments, they exclude donations.

Melanie estimates she’s already paid the state school $1500 to cover these items.

The costs would have been higher had she not received assistance from the state government’s camps, sports and excursions fund and state schools relief.

She said the school had been understanding, and let her pay in instalments.

Researchers used My School data to analyse parent payments at 150 state schools in metropolitan Melbourne between 2013 and 2016.

While the poorest schools each received an average of $352,956 in parent payments every year, the wealthiest schools, which tended to enrol more students, reaped $1.58 million.

Deakin University academic Dr Emma Rowe, who co-authored the paper with Murdoch University’s Dr Laura Perry, said advantaged schools generated more money from parents and were able to provide more resources.

Poorer schools, which can't draw as much money from their communities, miss out.

Dr Rowe said needs-based funding did not offset these gaps.

“This is another impact of segregation,” she said.

Dr Rowe said elite state schools knew they could ask for more money and parents were often happy to contribute because it was a fraction of what they would have to pay at a private school.

“On one hand I think it’s fantastic that parents are willing to contribute the funding but some parents simply can't,” she said.

She said there needed to be greater regulation of parent payments in schools, and potentially a cap on how much money parents can be asked to contribute.

The researchers pointed out that in Ontario, Canada, schools are asked to share resources and funding to ensure a level playing field.

Victorian Council of Social Service chief executive Emma King said some students were not choosing certain elective subjects because of the extra costs.

“Families are faced with impossible choices – buy a blazer, but your child can’t afford to play sport," she said. "Buy an iPad but have no money left for food.”

She said there was inadequate monitoring of the Education Department’s revised parent payment policy, with some schools failing to understand or comply with the new rules.

A department spokeswoman said the revised policy, released in 2016, ensured that school costs were fair, transparent and efficient.

“Schools must ensure that parent payment costs are kept to a minimum and the parent payment policy requires schools to provide enough detail to allow parents to understand what is being charged for,” she said.

Schools understood that parents faced challenges, and worked with them to determine hardship arrangements, she said.

“Every school is different with different needs and expectations, therefore school councils can set their own parental payments and limits in accordance with [the] department’s policy."

A 2015 Auditor-General's report into the cost of state education found that schools had become reliant on parent payments. It found that schools charged for items including textbooks, head lice checks and stationery, which should be provided for free.