Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, , 3:19:14 to 3:22:40
Analysis of the generational shift in student enrollments from government to non-government schools and the factors driving parental choice in the education system.
Topics: Education, Government spending
Speakers: Ms. Meg Brighton, Senator Matt O'Sullivan, Speaker 16, Mr. Tony Cook, Unknown Speaker
>> Um I'm going to have to move on. Um I'd love to keep exploring that but um I'm going to have to move on. Uh how how much uh have you achieved or do you expect to achieve in savings in government schools and how much in uh Catholic and how much in independent schools across you know this 4 uh $72 million?
>> Uh break down. So, Senator, um the way we assess and fund schools is based on actual students um attendance and how we sorry not attendance, actual student enrollments. And how we assess that is through the schools census. So, we have a non-government school census and a government school census. Um those two census periods have only just closed a little while ago. Uh we're going through the usual data quality assurance process and then once those numbers are settled it'll be part of the um uh government's myo process
>> and the measure only starts this financial year. Is that right?
>> So yeah just to clarify as Russia assistant secretary inclusion and disability the measure will only take effect the NCCD portion of this measure only takes effect from the 2027 academic year. So we will only see that in the 2027 census. So we'll probably only be in a position to report early 2028 on the impact and the sectoral split.
>> Okay. Um what's the largest reduction in funding to a single school under the compliance measures both in nominal terms and proportionately?
>> Senator, are you sorry the current
compliance measures we've got in place that have been in place for a year or two or are you talking about this work that we're doing around NCCD? it won't it doesn't actually come into effect until 2027 as we just indicated. So, we won't get the data till next year.
>> Oh, okay.
>> To get a better sense of that,
>> right? Um and and just to go back to something you said earlier in relation to the special assistant schools and their considerable cash holdings or or assets. So, you're not suggesting that they would need to be selling land or or buildings or
>> No, Senator. What I was referring to is that in some situations um as we're dealing as we're engaging with special assistant schools if they express concerns we work with them and in that working with them we have a look at um if there's an accumulation of cash holdings uh we have a an integrity measure that was uh a budget 23 24 measure if there's accumulation of cash holdings what we're having discussions with those schools is that Australian government refund recurrent funding so the expectation is We fund schools on a school year and the general expectation is the funds that go to a school in a school year is for the provision of schooling in that year. So if there's an accumulation of cash um and um there's an opportunity if that's the Australian government funding for those special assistant schools to use that to service the students. Um uh no I'm not suggesting that schools should be selling their buildings and lands but we are also making sure that the funding for schooling is being used for the provision of schooling and um part of um my evidence uh with Senator Allman Payne earlier was uh we do look at asset holdings and transfer of assets as part of our usual compliance work and as part of our audits.