Ideas@TheCentre
Focus on the children
School funding in Australia is plagued by inconsistencies and divisiveness. The majority of public funding distributed to schools from all levels of government has no clear underlying rationale or objective. The result is widespread confusion and dissatisfaction.
The federal government’s review of funding for schooling is timely. The political and educational climate is favourable. But this is not to say that coming up with a new model for school funding will be easy. The review committee has a formidable task, made more difficult by the large number of submissions and the uneven quality of reports commissioned to inform its deliberations.
The first part of the process is defining the objectives of public funding for schools, as these will guide policy decisions. At the top of this list must be equity, efficiency and excellence. Current school funding systems are not serving any of these objectives well.
Second, the key characteristics of school funding systems most likely to achieve the desired objectives must be identified based on sound research and policy analysis. Fortunately, there is a high level of expert agreement on this matter. Good school funding systems are sector-neutral, provide schools with autonomy, allow parental choice, and encourage private investment.
The third, and most difficult part of the process, is coming up with a workable model that is not overly complex and which balances each of the sometimes competing policy principles. Most vexed of all is the issue of private inputs to education.
Some level of public subsidy of non-government schools is clearly efficient: students in non-government schools receive on average around half as much total public funding as students in government schools but achieve educational outcomes that are at least equivalent. However, it is not clear that large increases in public subsidies to schools with high private incomes will increase efficiency or access.
The very great challenge is to design a funding mechanism that facilitates access to non-government schools for parents who would like to make that choice but without directing scarce public funds where they are not needed or penalising parents who make substantial voluntary investments in their children’s education.
Jennifer Buckingham is a Research Fellow with the Social Foundations Program at The Centre for Independent Studies. Her latest report, School Funding, Choice and Equity, was published this week.
