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Australians know public schools are underfunded. There are\u00a0media reports<\/a>\u00a0of schools needing to fundraise to build essential infrastructure such as school halls and provide playground shade cloths and textbooks.<\/p>\n This comes alongside\u00a0other reports<\/a>\u00a0of elite private schools building pools and theatres with multimillion-dollar budgets (helped by their\u00a0tax exemptions and subsidies<\/a>) and\u00a0ongoing concerns<\/a>\u00a0about\u00a0funding disparities<\/a>\u00a0between Australian school systems.<\/p>\n In our\u00a0research<\/a>, published in the Australian Educational Researcher, we speak to public school principals about a consequence of this lack of funding \u2013 a major part of their jobs is now applying for grants to generate revenue for their schools.<\/p>\n In\u00a0Australia<\/a>, public schools get about 80% of their funding from their state or territory government. The rest comes from the federal government.<\/p>\n Their \u201crecurrent funding\u201d is calculated through the\u00a0schooling resource standard<\/a>, which is an\u00a0estimate<\/a>\u00a0of \u201chow much public funding a school needs to meet its students\u2019 educational needs\u201d. This involves a base amount for every student and up to six needs-based loadings, relating to socio-educational disadvantage, location and English language proficiency.<\/p>\n A\u00a02023 analysis<\/a>\u00a0indicated 98% of private schools are funded above the schooling resource standard and more than 98% of public schools are funded below it.<\/p>\n Current negotiations between the federal and state\/territory governments ahead of a new\u00a0school reform agreement<\/a>\u00a0next year have been\u00a0billed as a chance<\/a>\u00a0to finally \u201cfully fund\u201d schools to 100% of the schooling resource standard. It is now more than a decade since this funding arrangement was introduced by the Gillard government in the so-called Gonski reforms.<\/p>\n Public schools fund capital projects (things such as building maintenance) in a separate process. While this varies across states and territories, in general it requires schools to demonstrate a need to their education department.<\/p>\n In Australia, researchers have been noting a trend towards\u00a0more autonomy<\/a>\u00a0or flexibility for government school principals about how they manage their budgets.<\/p>\n While this gives principals more discretion about how they spend money according to their school\u2019s needs,\u00a0researchers have noted<\/a>\u00a0it has also led to a greater expectation they will generate money for their schools.<\/p>\n This has become a particular issue if\u00a0schools are not funded adequately by governments<\/a>. If basic needs not being met, principals need to apply for competitive grants from government to make up shortfalls.<\/p>\nHow are schools funded in Australia?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
A changing job for principals<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Our research<\/strong><\/h4>\n