Government funding for private schools doubles, raising equity concerns

In the past decade, the Australian government’s financial support for private schools has surged, reaching double its previous levels, prompting concerns about the country's education equity. Among 38 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Australia now ranks as one of the least equitable schooling systems. This disparity in funding distribution has not materialised overnight but is the culmination of a steady shift in the way schools are financed by federal and state authorities over the last 25 years.

The roots of this substantial increase in funding can be traced back to the policies initiated during the Howard Government in 1996. The primary motive behind these measures was to grant parents the “freedom to choose” the type of schooling they wanted for their children. Accordingly, more financial resources were allocated to private schools with the intention of making them more affordable. However, over time, this funding boost has failed to translate into accessible education, as private school fees continue to escalate, rendering them unaffordable for many families – defeating the purpose of Howard’s policy and resulting in a wholesale transfer of federal funds away from public schools and towards private.