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Schools Education Minister Peter Garrett has indicated that the government plans to reduce funding for Catholic and independent schools.

In the WAToday news, the headline reads “105 WA schools in the firing line“, and then goes on to list the schools on the “Hit List”.

Looking at the first school in that list, “Brand St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School”  we see the following funding figures:

Government Funding per student (Net recurrent income 2009) was:
$7,126 Combined Government funding ($4,831 Federal + $2,295 State)
$1,478 Other (Parents etc)
$8,604 Total Spent per child

If we then compare this to the closest State School: “Port Kennedy Primary School”, we see these funding figures:

$9,253 Combined Government funding ($1,097 Federal + $8,156 State)
$ 132 Other (Parents etc)
$9,385 Total Spent per child

The supposedly “Overfunded” independent school being targeted for reduced income, already receives $2,127 LESS in government funding than the state school, AND they manage to provide an education for a total spending of $781 LESS than the state school even with parent contributions included.

What these Politicians don’t tell us is the WHOLE story, they just handpick part of the information, for effect.
For example, they could say:

The WA government contribute only $2,295 per student for that independent school, but pay $8,156 per student for the local State school.

But they avoid mentioning that bit, in fact they avoid mentioning the total spend.

All they highlight is one little bit, the Federal funding contribution, and hope they confuse people.

To try to avoid using just one example, I have also looked at the last school on that list, and the funding figures show this:

Independent School:

Santa Maria College, Attadale, WA
$7,009 Combined Government funding ($4,590 Federal + $2,419 State)

$9,039 Other (Parents etc)

Closest State school:

Attadale Primary School, Attadale, WA
$9,866 Combined Government funding ($1,347 Federal + $8,519 State)
$    298 Other (Parents etc)

Again we see that the State schools get more funding that the Independent schools.  This one does however show a much greater contribution by parents.

The two Independent schools compared for parent and other contributions:

Parents at the St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary pay $1,478 average
Parents at the Santa Maria College pay $9,039

Financial Information Sources:

• http://www.myschool.edu.au

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