How does the Queensland Greens’ bill to state parliament work?
Under the existing Education Act, the government has to provide state schooling facilities, instruction, and administration for the basic curriculum free of charge.
The Green’s bill, The Education (General Provisions) (Helping Families with School Costs) Amendment Bill 2023, obliges the relevant Minister to fund state schools to 100% of the amount needed to meet the minimum educational needs of students as set out by the national framework: the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). This includes loadings for low-income, disabled and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
The Bill also requires the minister to introduce measures that fund state schools to provide students, free-of-charge,
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sporting, cultural, and academic programs in addition to the basic curriculum
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school excursions and camps
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all required resources including textbooks, stationery, and personal computing devices
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school uniforms
In doing so, state schools are to provide academic and extracurricular opportunities to children that are comparable to private schools and which address the various disadvantages students attending a school may face, such as geographical or economic disadvantage.
What is minimum needs funding/Schooling Resource Standard?
Following the 2011 Review of Funding for Schooling, led by David Gonski, Queensland adopted the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) to calculate the minimum funding a school needs to ensure that 80% of its students meet the national minimum standard in reading and numeracy.
The Australian Education Union have said:
“The SRS is not an aspirational standard of school funding, nor is it a desirable level of funding that would give schools an ideal pool of resources. The SRS was designed as the minimum funding required so that schools can have at least 80% of their students achieving learning outcomes above the national minimum standard in NAPLAN for reading and numeracy.”
How much are Queensland state schools underfunded?
The annual shortfall in funding required for Queensland state schools to meet the minimum educational needs of their students is estimated to be $1.7 billion in 2023 (Australian Education Union, Investing in Australia’s Future).
Under the current Bilateral Agreement, the Queensland Government and Federal Government provide 69% and 20% of the SRS respectively (Commonwealth of Australia and State of Queensland, Bilateral Agreement Between Queensland and the Commonwealth on Implementation of School Education Reform).
As a result, Queensland’s state schools are only funded to 89% of the SRS, less than any other state or territory except the Northern Territory. This means that more than 1 in 10 children in Queensland state schools are not funded to meet their educational needs. Over a decade, this is the equivalent of leaving more than an entire year level unfunded.
How much would parents save with the Helping Families with School Costs Bill?
Families should expect to save about $2000 per year on out-of-pocket school-related expenses per child.
Excluding Queensland Academies, the median per student contribution for Queensland state secondary schools was $390 in 2021, with 7.4% of schools charging in excess of $1000 (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority).
These fees don’t include essentials such as uniforms, stationery or digital technology, or activities outside the core curriculum such as manual arts, interschool sports, music programs. Additionally, students often require additional tuition to compensate for a learning environment hindered by underfunding.
The Schooling in Australia: Exploring the Financial Impact of Providing a Quality Education report estimates that the average Queensland family spends more than $4000 a year on ancillary schooling costs per child (Futurity, McCrindle Research). While the Bill doesn’t address all ancillary costs included in the report, like transport or outside tuition, a significant number of the costs would be met by the government.
How much would it cost the government?
$1.7 billion a year in additional funding is needed to bring Queensland into line with minimum needs-based funding requirements under the national framework, the Schooling Resource Standard (Australian Education Union, Investing in Australia’s Future).
The SRS is designed as the amount of funding a school needs to ensure at least 80% of its students meet minimum NAPLAN testing standards. It isn’t intended to account for costs to families for essentials like uniforms, textbooks, and digital devices which many schools require. Nor does it include the cost of activities that many would consider essential to any childhood, like the opportunity to play sports, learn an instrument, or go to school camp.
The Schooling in Australia: Exploring the Financial Impact of Providing a Quality Education report estimates that the average Queensland family spends more than $4000 a year on ancillary schooling costs per child (Futurity, McCrindle Research). While the Bill doesn’t address all ancillary costs included in the report, like transport or outside tuition, a significant number of the costs would be met by the government.
We estimate the cost of making state school truly free, scrapping parent fees and out-of-pocket expenses, and giving every child the opportunity to participate in extracurricular programs would cost no more than $2000 per state school student or $1.2 billion per year.
What are the economic benefits?
In 2015, a major OECD study (Universal Basic Skills: What Countries Stand to Gain) estimated that lifting education standards in Australia so that every child achieved minimum international testing standards under the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) would have a future economic benefit of $2.2 trillion and increase GDP by 11% by the year 2095. Lifting the PISA scores of every child by 25 points (equivalent to one year of learning) would deliver an economic benefit of $5.2 trillion and increase GDP by 29% by 2095.
How would the government pay for it?
While increasing school funding pays for itself in long-term economic benefits, in the short term, this cost could be met by increasing royalties and taxes on mining companies and the big banks.