Gaining a degree in disadvantage

By Jane Caro,

Convenor of Priority Public

Not far from Sydney, there is an area identified as a postcode of disadvantage in Tony Vinson's recent report on the subject. An area also described as one of the 5 most disadvantaged postcodes in the region by the local area health service.

Located in this postcode are two schools. One is a government subsidised private school, the other a comprehensive state high school.

Each school enrols approximately 600 secondary students (the private school also enrols about 200 primary students).

Under the Federal Government's SES formula, to apply for extra funding due to its perceived disadvantage, all the private school must submit is the postcodes of its students. (After all, one wouldn't want to pry into a chap's private financial affairs, would one?)

Because of the number of its students who live in the area, the school (which charges annual fees of up to $10,000) has attracted an increase in Commonwealth funding of 135%, taking their total Federal Government subsidy to about $2.5 million per annum. They also receive around $450,000 annually from the State Government.

The high school charges a voluntary contribution of $50 per annum (which mostly goes unpaid), and actually enrols the most disadvantaged kids in this disadvantaged area. To apply for the Priority Schools Funding Program, the high school must submit surveys of individual parents personal and employment details. (After all, you can't be too careful about bludgers and welfare cheats, can you?)

If sufficient parents are prepared to supply such details or, indeed, are literate enough to do so, the school may qualify for PSFP funding (previously the Disadvantaged Schools Program).

the school is successful, they will attract a funding increase of a grand total of $100,000 spread over 4 years, plus one or two additional staff. This funding is, however, tied to literacy and numeracy outcomes and, if it is not completely spent, must be returned. No such rules apply to SES funding.

Commonwealth funding to the high school is currently at about $440,000 annually.

When extraordinary inequities like these are pointed out to the people who have the power to do something about them, our State and Federal Governments, their only response is to start pointing the finger at one another.

With not just our kids, but our entire societies future at stake, this response is simply not good enough.

We need to demand much better answers, from all levels of government.

Why, for example, do we as a society use such a cursory method of identifying disadvantage amongst private school parents, and such a punitive and intrusive method amongst parents who send their kids to public schools? Why the difference?

Why do we accept that already well resourced schools, able to charge high annual fees, and pick and choose their students, are somehow more deserving of extra funds, than schools that are clearly poorly resourced, unable to charge fees, and expected to educate all comers, including the most disadvantaged?

Have we literally lost faith in the evidence of our own eyes? Every statistic, every study confirms that public schools educate the vast majority of every disadvantaged group you care to name, the majority of students with a disability, the majority of indigenous students, and the majority of students from the lowest income families, no matter what their religious background.

Speaking of faith, how do schools that preach Christian values justify their part in such an unequal distribution of resources and advantage?

Why are we not much more worried about the fact that Australia now has one of the biggest gaps between the best and worst academic performers in the OECD?

Perhaps we have simply decided that Australia only needs to give a fair go to children whose parents already have a fair income.

Indeed, just to add insult to injury, if you are contemplating sending a donation to your local public school to help them out, I must warn you, such donations are not tax deductible. Donations to government subsidised private schools, on the other hand, are.

(Oh, and by the way, the staff of the high school described above are very pessimistic about their chances of receiving any PSFP funding at all.)