NSW Education Funding:
Private school wealth, public school squalor

Demonstrators protesting at the inadequate funding of public education 
and the lavish funding of private schools held a rally outside Sydney's 
Kings School last Wednesday.

The demonstration highlighted the gross injustice of education funding in 
NSW. Kings School was the subject of a recent ABC documentary which showed 
it to be magnificently equipped in comparison with state schools.

Kings School boasts first rate classrooms, science and music rooms, library 
and other education facilities housed in beautifully maintained heritage 
buildings.

Theatres, playing and parade grounds, spectator facilities, boatsheds and 
boats, full cadet corps training equipment and many other facilities are 
also located within its ample and beautifully manicured grounds.

Yet between 1996 and 1998 this school received State and Federal funding of 
$3.5 million, while to the west of the school, Sydney's poorest state 
schools struggled against inadequate facilities, crumbling buildings and 
threadbare maintenance.

According to the organisation Promotion of Public Education, one of the 
worst abuses of the funding system by private schools is the State 
Government's "conveyancing" system, a $370 million travel subsidy for 
school children.

This subsidy is not means-tested, and is claimed on behalf of a 
disproportionately large number of private school students. (The majority 
of state school students attend schools within their area, and therefore 
are not eligible for the subsidy). The travel subsidy is the most rapidly 
growing area in the NSW State education budget.

Another area of contention is the treatment of children with disabilities. 
In contrast to state schools, private schools are under no obligation to 
enrol these students.

Within recent years NSW public schools have been the subject of 
"mainstreaming" of children with disabilities, yet no provision has been 
made for the special training of primary school teachers to deal with the 
complex and difficult tasks associated with the special needs of this group 
of youngsters.

One of the most contentious issues in NSW public education concerns the 
disposal of public education facilities which are snapped up by private 
education businesses.

An outstanding example of this is the proposed sale of the teacher training 
facility at the Oatley campus of the University of NSW in Sydney's southern 
suburbs.

This site was originally sold to the University by the State Government for 
the nominal sum of $1. Although the establishment of the teacher training 
facility was a condition of the original sale, the University now proposes 
to sell the campus to the wealthy private school Trinity Grammar.

If the sale proceeds, the people of NSW will lose a valuable teacher 
training facility, the university will gain some $15 million, and the 
private education sector will gain yet another prime public asset at an 
extremely reasonable price.