The independent schools lobby has either forgotten its own rhetoric with talk of ‘special deals’ in school funding or is contradicting itself, Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Ltd (CECV) Executive Director Stephen Elder says.
‘Independent school lobby heads have written to the Prime Minister demanding a “level playing field” for funding, and warning against “special deals” for Catholic schools.
‘This appears to have come about because the Government has committed to fixing a flawed metric in its school funding model that overfunds wealthy independent schools by at least $200 million per annum, while short-changing low-fee Catholic and independent schools.
‘The independent school associations have to face the facts.
‘Just as the CECV and the National School Resourcing Board have found, if there is to be a level playing field in school funding, then that means less funding for wealthy schools and more funding for low fee Catholic and independent schools.
‘It’s time for the independent school associations to stop defending special deals for the wealthiest schools and start advocating for better funding outcomes for their low-fee members – their Lutheran schools, Christian schools, Islamic schools and Jewish schools.
‘We urge the independent school associations to follow-through on their rhetoric of 15 months ago, when they demanded “consistent and equitable” funding, even if it meant some of their schools would have funding reductions.
‘As ISCA said in their statement on 26 May 2017 “ISCA acknowledges that achieving this objective … is impossible without some schools across the non-government sector being adversely impacted”.
‘ICSA said it wanted a level playing field. Now they’ve changed their minds. But surely they should welcome arrangements that deliver funding gains to the schools that need the most support – the low-fee Lutheran schools, Christian schools, Islamic schools ad Jewish schools.
‘The CECV looks forward to working with the Government to replace school SES scores with a better measure of school need by 2020, as recommended by the National School Resourcing Board.
‘All schools should then transition to their funding entitlement by 2027. If the Government delays any of these milestones it would be a special deal – for wealthy independent schools.’
Further information: Christian Kerr, Media Adviser, 0402 977 352
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