The Turnbull government has revealed the ‘hit list’ of 24 overfunded elite private schools that will lose out as part of its school funding shake up.
It comes as Coalition MPs raise concerns about the impact of the new needs-based funding model – dubbed Gonski 2.0 – on the Catholic education sector, which has warned it may need to hike fees at some schools.
The 24 overfunded schools, from the Catholic and independent sectors, are drawn from New South Wales (15), ACT (7) and Queensland (2).
They include Sydney’s exclusive Loreto Kirribilli, where fees are $15,000 a year, Daramalan College in Canberra and the Brisbane independent school Cannon Hill Anglican College. (A full list is below)
A further 353 private schools will have the rate of the growth in their funding reduced under the plan, which Labor has cast as a $22 billion cut compared with its Gonski plan.
The government has also released a funding calculator that allows parents to see how their child’s school will be affected by the changes.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham has faced a backlash from the Catholic sector, which claims its schools are the big losers of the new funding package.
Coalition MPs were expected to discuss the new model on Tuesday, after former prime minister Tony Abbott last week said it would be “vigorously debated” in the Liberals’ party room.
Liberal Assistant Social Services and Multicultural Affairs Minister Zed Seselja said schools in the ACT, where he is a Senator, would lose out under the government’s plan.
“I know there is a lot of significant concern expressed here in this room … I share a lot of those concerns and what I would like to do is work with you as a community to get the best possible outcome that I can,” he told a Catholic education public meeting on Monday night.
“My message to the Minister, and I have put this to him personally, is to have another look here in the ACT … I’ve put my case very forcefully to the minister and he’s listened,” he said.
The government has confirmed it will offer transitional funding arrangements for Catholic schools in the ACT, which are the hardest hit by the new package because they are considered ‘overfunded’ under the needs-based system.
But Senator Birmingham has otherwise refused to back down over the new model, telling an increasingly vocal Catholic sector that it will receive a 3.5 per cent funding boost over the 10-year plan.
“We’ve been open and upfront all along that more than 9000 schools are set to receive significant funding boosts according to their need, but that also means some schools will have their funding levels frozen or reduced,” he said.
“My department has been in contact with the schools set for a funding reduction under our plan to ensure those communities have the information and support to work through those changes.”
Independent schools that will lose funding:
| School Name | State | 2017 $ per student |
2018 $ per student |
2027 $ per student |
| Loreto Kirribilli | NSW | 6,171 | 6,008 | 3,454 |
| Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College | NSW | 5,435 | 5,305 | 3,219 |
| St Aloysius’ College | NSW | 5,073 | 4,956 | 3,064 |
| St Pius X College | NSW | 6,969 | 6,834 | 4,557 |
| Mount St Benedict College (Pennant Hills) | NSW | 8,066 | 7,945 | 5,747 |
| Daramalan College | ACT | 7,998 | 7,880 | 5,719 |
| Hillbrook Anglican School | QLD | 8,030 | 7,913 | 5,761 |
| Radford College | ACT | 4,904 | 4,841 | 3,638 |
| Burgmann Anglican School | ACT | 6,802 | 6,715 | 5,050 |
| Marist College Canberra | ACT | 7,508 | 7,456 | 6,153 |
| Brigidine College, St Ives | NSW | 6,582 | 6,537 | 5,403 |
| Brindabella Christian College | ACT | 7,284 | 7,235 | 6,007 |
| Stella Maris College Manly | NSW | 8,035 | 7,990 | 6,738 |
| Oakhill College Castle Hill | NSW | 7,439 | 7,402 | 6,302 |
| Covenant Christian School | NSW | 6,613 | 6,588 | 5,717 |
| Waverley College | NSW | 6,966 | 6,942 | 6,053 |
| St Scholastica’s College | NSW | 8,918 | 8,897 | 7,874 |
| Northern Beaches Christian School |
NSW | 7,188 | 7,181 | 6,474 |
| Masada College High School | NSW | 3,524 | 3,523 | 3,215 |
| Cannon Hill Anglican College | QLD | 7,077 | 7,084 | 6,558 |
| Inner Sydney Montessori School | NSW | 4,305 | 4,310 | 4,004 |
| Orana Steiner School | ACT | 6,723 | 6,732 | 6,260 |
| St Augustine’s College | NSW | 7,115 | 7,130 | 6,704 |
| St Edmund’s College | ACT | 7,650 | 7,666 | 7,217 |
Source: Department of Education
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