I am pleased to announce that the Australian Government will provide $12.5 billion for the nation';s 1610 Catholic systemic schools during the quadrennium 2005-08 under a new agreement concluded with the Catholic Education Commissions throughout Australia.
This funding is a $3 billion, or 37 per cent, increase on the amount Catholic schools will receive during the current quadrennium. Importantly, it is $362 million more than they would have received in the new quadrennium if current funding arrangements continued.
It will result in extra help being delivered to poorly resourced schools.
This $362 million increase over existing arrangements results from the very significant decision of the Catholic school systems to join the Australian Government';s socio-economic status (SES) funding model for non-government schools for the 2005-08 funding quadrennium.
This means that from 2005 onwards all non-government schools in Australia will be funded essentially according to the same set of principles.
The SES model was introduced in 2001 as the basis for funding the 1024 Independent schools outside the Catholic systems. Under this funding model, Australian Government funding contributions to schools are determined according to the socio-economic status of the communities that the schools serve. Schools that serve the neediest communities attract the most money, while schools that serve the wealthiest attract the least. (See details attached).
At present, Catholic school systems receive a deemed rate of funding from the Australian Government of 56.2 per cent of the cost of educating a child in government schools (51.2 per cent in the ACT). Catholic school systems will come into the SES system in 2005 on the basis that schools that would attract less money by being funded on the basis of their SES score will have their funding maintained at their current level in real terms. The other Independent schools, which came into the SES system in 2001, did so on the same basis.
Catholic school systems cater for more than 600,000 students, about 18 per cent of all school children across Australia. Analysis by the Department of Education Science and Training revealed that they are currently operating on an average of some 20 per cent less recurrent funds from all sources (including fee income) than average funding for state government schools.
The Australian Government strongly supports choice for parents in school education. Every parent has a right to determine the type of education that will shape the upbringing of their children, subject of course to the proper curricula that apply to all of our children. The Catholic Church has made, and continues to make, an invaluable contribution to the education of many young Australians, consistent with the values that their parents hold dear.
I remind those regular critics of Australian Government assistance to non-government schools that although only 68 per cent of Australian children attend government schools, those schools receive 76 per cent of all government funding for schools.
I would like to thank Cardinal Pell and each of the Catholic education authorities for the constructive role they have played in negotiations with the Australian Government on funding for the Catholic school systems for the 2005-08 quadrennium.