The Coalition of Regional Independent Schools Australia Inc (CRISA) was formed in response to deep concerns relating to the proposed implementation of Direct Measure of Income (DMI) funding (replacing SES funding), and specifically the disastrous impact it will have on many regional and outer-metropolitan schools and boarding schools across Australia.
In essence:
- Regional independent schools form an essential part of the backbone of numerous regional and rural communities, often serving many generations;
- Many country communities, and their schools, are facing unprecedented and serious environmental and economic threats in the decade ahead;
- Commonwealth SES funding of independent schools delivered economic sustainability and security to regional schools after many were disadvantaged (some to the point of closure) by the previous ERI funding formula;
- If the new DMI school funding formula is based solely on the median incomes of school parents, many regional schools will, increasingly in years through to 2029, lose substantial amounts of Commonwealth funding, forcing them to raise fees, and some, ultimately, to close;
- The effect of increased fees and/or school closures would be limited choice of schooling for parents;
- Any drift of students from independent schools to government schools as a result of fee increases would impact heavily on education funding expenditure for State Governments.
Government funding of a non-government schools is intended to be based on the school’s parents’ “capacity to contribute” to the running expenses of the school. The recommendation that this capacity be based on the median income of parents appears reasonable at a very superficial level. However:
- It is statistically invalid to classify highly variable distributions using a single criterion. It is crucial that the spread of the distribution is taken into account as well as the mid-point;
- The use of the median alone would mean that a school’s funding is based only on the incomes of the wealthier half of a school community. No account is taken of those families in the other half, and whether their incomes are anywhere near the median;
- While it was originally indicated that the “Choice and Affordability Fund” would support schools whose viability is threated by the new funding formula, it is now apparent that the funding available would equate to a small fraction of the projected losses of regional schools. The Fund also has a limited lifespan, implying that some schools would have the same.
Heads and Principals of schools from across regional Australia call for:
- A definition of regionality which recognises the realities of the provision of education across country Australia;
- Funding fairness for all schools.
CRISA invites support from all who are concerned for the prosperity of regional Australia, and can be contacted via info@crisa.org.au.