Full disclosure: I work at a private school. My opinion hasn’t changed much since taking the job, though.
Government funding for schools is a Big Topic (just ask Gonski), but here’s a summary of what I think about private vs. public school funding.
At first, it seems simple. Private schools receive income from fees, alumni donations, side businesses, investment returns and more, so it must be a waste of Taxpayers’ Money1 for them to be given the the same level of government funding as public schools. And if they get MORE money than public schools, well, that’s just outrageous! Right?
If only it were actually so simple.
For starters, it’s difficult to establish a fair comparison between different schools. It’s certainly not as simple as “school A gets $X of government funding per student, vs. $Y per student in school B.” One must allow for variations in demography, facilities, projected growth, private funding levels and more. It’s irresponsible to ignore the complexities of these factors (not that some journalists seem to care).
But if it’s true that private schools get more from the government than their public counterparts (and it probably is), I’m not convinced that taxpayers should fret. Here’s my rationale:
Schools populated by parents willing to make a significant financial contribution to the education of their children should be actively encouraged by the government.
In other words, if the endgame is quality education, then schools full of kids who WANT quality education should not be left behind funding-wise. They should be fully equipped to make potent investments in the future of Australia: the minds of its brightest children.
That said, quality education isn’t the only endgame. We must also offer a viable, competitive education to ALL Australian children, whether or not their parents can afford to send them to a private school, whether or not they’re bright enough to get a scholarship to one, and whether or not their parents even believe in the value of education.
Should this be achieved at the expense of schools that value-add enough to be able to supplement government funds with school fees and other private sector income? You know my answer.
And I haven’t even started on the student welfare benefits of (many) private schools. These can dramatically increase the value of education for some students, but that’s for another day.
1 I hate this phrase. It’s only ever used manipulatively, or at the expense of the Big Picture. I was demonstrating manipulation here!
I believe access to quality education should be a right not a privilege. I worry that Australia is heading towards “you get what you pay for” model with regards to education.
User pays is not what Gonski recommends, though :)
And I agree re: right vs. privilege; I just think private schools have a part to play (i.e. in what they can add to the prescribed base-level education, which I agree should be “quality”, however we define that!), and government funding needs to remain part of the equation.
Are public schools not full of parents wanting quality education for their children?
my kids and i have attended public schools throughout, and could not have asked for a better standard of education or a better resourced insititution. of course there are underresourced schools but we have been fortunate to be located near some of the best in the country.
Once you reconcile yourself with redistributing tax revenue, you’re playing way past right and wrong. I can’t really expect interest groups NOT to try and exploit more of other people’s money for themselves at the expense of other interest groups. People respond to incentives.
Leighsa: yes and no. Parents willing to sacrifice, say, expensive family holidays for a better education for their kids probably want quality education for their kids a little more than the rest of us, though ;)
NB: we’re planning to start our kids in public schools, and hopefully they’ll stay there until the end of their schooling. We’ll be enhancing the quality of their education through involvement in other things outside of school, though.
Alex: not sure I want to open this can of worms, but humour me for a moment anyway: what’s your preferred tax system?
Megan Anderson Phillipson liked this on Facebook.
I’m saying that taxation necessarily amounts to taking other people’s resources by force. If you’re okay with that but aren’t okay with some of the allocation of those resources, you’re not in a position to make an argument on principle or about “natural rights”, because you aren’t against coercion. You can certainly argue that the allocation doesn’t benefit you, but that’s as far as your moral authority would extend.
I agree with the Greens position on funding. The greens position is if they want government funding they should follow the same rules. That is they have to accept any student. It is for this reason that when some christian lobby group puts out every election who supports christians and who doesn’t they say the greens are bad.
The article in the link makes the wrong assumption that all kids at private schools are interested in quality education. I know several people who absolutely hated being at the private school their parents sent them to.
It is also a fact that if public schools can use the same rules as private schools in choosing which students to take then the public schools can do just as well as a private school academically. That selective public schools are getting in the top 10 schools in HSC demonstrates this.
Public funding of private schools allows some parents to contribute even more to their child’s education, giving them an even bigger advantage then the students whose parents can not afford to make similar contributions.
Private schools also have the advantage of hand picking their students, while public schools have to provide an education to everyone, regardless of behavioural problems. In fact shouldn’t more funding be given to schools with poor behaviour or low scores?
And what about private schools who are more interested in teaching students their ideology as opposed to the curriculum?
Hmm, turns out I’ve missed a whole stack of your posts due to forgetting to update my RSS feed. I’m so ashamed.
Alex: we agree! Wow! Not that I think tax is bad, though.
Andrew: agreed re: accepting all students, but not all staff (e.g. a Christian school ceases to be a Christian school if it employs non-Christians – this whole issue is a can of worms I’ll leave closed for a future post, though). I take your point re: academic performance, but that’s not the only metric that matters when considering a wholistic education. And it’s the parents of private school kids who I’m saying are especially committed to quality education. Of course plenty of the kids don’t care ;)
Nat: disparity exists everywhere. It should be minimised where practical – private schools that offer scholarships and fee assistance help with this, giving less wealthy families with smart kids opportunities they couldn’t otherwise afford. I agree re: more funding and better talent being needed in under-performing schools.
As for Christian schools (I’ll translate :P), that’s why curriculum compliance is enforced. All teachers educate within their preferred ideology (or that of their employer), and I respect the right of parents to choose which ideology their teachers have.
To clarify: I don’t believe in brainwashing, but I don’t think that’s what education within a particular ideological framework necessarily is. Wherever brainwashing is found, it should be stamped out.
Nick: I trust you’ve rectified this problem :D
ITT paying money to “educators” to get registered to practice = outcome of school/Uni, educationally…
My children both attend a beautiful public school. What I find exceptionally insulting asbout this blog is the assumption that my committment to my childs education should be expressed fincially… My committment involves an active presence at the school thus demonstrating to my children that I have an intense committment to their education, not an intense desire to purchase it! What kind of overly expensive family holidays are people forgoing to afford a private education???
Why do people get offended/insulted at thought out argumentation? Even if it were wrong, why can’t someone just disagree and make their case (I have my own theories for this but I don’t care to hijack the topic)? I just don’t understand this…
Fascinating post, Luke :)
Where did I say that commitment to education *should* be expressed financially? I only said that spending a significant sum per year on private education is an *indicator* of commitment to quality education, and I stand by that statement (in my experience, prestige is rarely the main factor). I also noted the importance of making a “viable, competitive education” available to all Australians (i.e. through public schools), and followed up with this comment: “we’re planning to start our kids in public schools, and hopefully they’ll stay there until the end of their schooling”. So, I would suggest that you had no reason to find anything “exceptionally insulting”.
Also, not all private schools are created equal. The fees at the Christian school I work at are quite modest, and there are indeed families who choose to pay them and live more frugally than they would otherwise.
I’m sure you know that not all public schools are created equal, either. I’m glad your kids are at a great one :)
I am one of those families….. it is a HUGE sacrifice for me to send my children to the school I believe is best for them.
That’s not to say that I don’t support public education though, because I do, in fact I desperately wish that I didn’t feel the need to put my children in an alternative school system.
I get the point of your blog… I don’t think that schools who are lucky enough to receive extra funding by committed families and communities should have that advantage negated by less government funding.
Thanks for weighing in, Zoë :)
sighhhhhh keep the masses chasing the carrot via the HSC insert other quota test system, but at the end of the day, because it is a quota system your just rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. No matter how hard each year at school works, the same number of people miss out.