Site Navigation
Education Reports for ISCA
Education Report
In 2010 the Australian Government announced a major review of national government funding to schools to be headed by eminent businessman David Gonski AC. The Review's terms of reference are to "provide recommendations to the Minister with responsibility for school education on the future funding arrangements for schooling in Australia for the period beyond 2013".
Total recurrent expenditure on school education from the Commonwealth and state and territory governments in 2008/09 was $38.9 billion. Most of these public resources - 79 per cent or $30.9 billion - go to government schools which enrol 66 per cent of all students. State and territory governments are the major source of funds for government schools. The Commonwealth is the major provider of public funds for non-government schools. Non-government schools, which enrol 34 per cent of students, receive $8.1 billion in operating funds from the Commonwealth and state and territory governments. Their remaining resources - 43 per cent - come from private contributions, mainly fees.
An important element of the Gonski Review is the allocation of funds to non-government schools. Although the policy of providing government funding for non-government schools has bipartisan political support, the extent of support and how funds are distributed remain highly controversial issues.
In order to increase understanding of the association between funding policies and educational outcomes, the Independent Schools Council of Australia (ISCA) commissioned the Public Policy Institute to review the evidence and prepare research papers on the following issues:
• Equity in Education (download paper, PDF,130KB)
• Choice and Values (download paper,PDF, 181KB)
• Parental Contributions to Education(download paper, PDF, 1.56 MB)
