The spatiality of economic maldistribution in public-school funding in Australia: still a poisonous debate

Figures & data

Table 1. 2019 Real government recurrent expenditure (AUD) on government and non-government schools per full time equivalent (FTE) student (excluding capital grants) (Productivity Commission 2021).

	Australian Capital territory (ACT)	New South Wales (NSW)	Northern Australia (NT)	Queensland (Qld)	South Australia (SA)	Tasmania (Tas)	Victoria (Vic)	Western Australia (WA)	Australia
Government Schools
Federal expenditure	2,465	3,036	7,382	3,146	2,993	3,542	2,840	2,634	3,017
State expenditure	19,673	17,399	19,213	15,608	16,001	15,975	15,134	16,652	16,312
Total government school expenditure	22,137^3	20,436	26,595	18,754	18,994	19,517	17,974	19,286	19,328
Non-Government Schools
Federal expenditure	8,112	8,759	15,663	9,296	9,218	10,550	8,834	8,864	9,005
State expenditure	2,559	2,972	6,001	3,011	2,486	3,261	2,124	3,607	2,808
Total non-government school expenditure	10,671	11,731	21,663	12,307	11,704	13,810	10,958	12,471	11,813

Table 2. Number and percentage of enrolled students by sector and state in 2020 (ACARA 2021a).

	Government		Catholic		Independent		Total Students	% of Australian students
	Students	%	Students	%	Students	%
ACT	45,647	61.5	18,179	24.5	10,403	14.0	74,229	1.9
NSW	810,705	65.3	257,082	20.7	174,175	14.0	1,241,962	31.0
NT	30,411	74.5	4,794	11.7	5,604	13.7	40,809	1.0
QLD	573,923	66.9	153,766	17.9	130,231	15.2	857,920	21.4
SA	177,038	64.7	46,432	17.0	50,266	18.4	273,736	6.8
Tas	56,973	69.5	15,052	18.4	9,990	12.2	82,015	2.0
Vic	644,475	64.0	210,998	21.0	150,999	15.0	1,006,472	25.1
WA	289,971	67.5	72,302	16.8	67,558	15.7	429,831	10.7
Australia	2,629,143	65.6	778,605	19.4	599,226	15.0	4,006,974	100

Table 3. 2019 Total gross income (AUD) per FTE student by sector and state (all school levels). These figures include state and federal recurrent funding, grants, fees and charges, and income from private sources (ACARA 2021b).

States	Government	Catholic	Independent
ACT	16,217	17,328	22,729
NSW	15,881	16,058	25,368
NT	23,099	25,520	25,040
QLD	15,346	17,712	21,185
SA	15,730	18,268	21,256
Tas	16,499	19,243	23,171
Vic	14,416	17,123	25,944
WA	16,031	17,638	22,613
Australia	15,520	17,152	23,956

Table 4. Distribution of independent schools by location (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority 2021a).

	Major cities	Inner regional	Outer regional	Remote	Very remote	Total
ACT	14					14
NSW	216	85	17		1	319
NT			5	5	5	15
QLD	111	47	31	2		191
SA	59	18	9	1	1	88
Tas		21	7			28
Vic	100	32	13			145
WA	87	13	11	3	11	125
Australia	587	216	93	11	18	925

Table 5. 2019 income from fees, charges, and parent contributions (AUD) by sector and state, $ per FTE student (ACARA 2021b).

States	Government	Catholic	Independent
ACT	477	4,114	13,052
NSW	399	2,896	13,061
NT	214	2,717	5,708
QLD	413	4,348	9,003
SA	645	5,085	9,011
Tas	361	2,979	9,343
Vic	711	4,420	15,135
WA	357	4,556	10,022
Australia	488	3,958	11,980

Table 6. 2019 income (AUD) from private sources, $ per FTE student by state and sector (ACARA 2021b).

States	Government	Catholic	Independent
ACT	188	616	1,160
NSW	202	544	1,626
NT	492	1,807	1,130
Queensland	318	622	917
SA	214	505	984
Tas	154	1,286	996
Vic	363	379	1,112
WA	179	402	789
Australia	266	521	1,199

Table 7. 2019 income (AUD), $ per FTE student for five government secondary schools in one region, Victoria (www.myschool.gov.au).

Government School	ICSEA	School enrolment	Federal recurrent funding $/student	State recurrent funding $/student	Parent contributions $/student	Other private sources $/student	Total income $/student
School C	1052	569	2,889	11,010	1,971	706	16,577
School D	1014	1529	2,717	10,795	421	164	14,098
School E	1007	1780	2,535	9,909	1,191	333	13,968
School F	985	855	3,235	12,738	537	723	17,234
School G	975	239	3,452	13,246	715	444	17,857
School H	955	636	4,507	16,044	38	302	15,876

Productivity Commission. 2021. Report on Government Services 2021: Childcare,Education and Training. Accessed July 9 2021. https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2021/child-care-education-and-training.

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ACARA. 2021a. National report on schooling in Australia. Retrieved Date Accessed, Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-data-portal/student-numbers#View3.

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ACARA. 2021b. School Funding. Retrieved Date from https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-data-portal/school-funding.

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