Andrew.

I still think that extrapolating figures from Canberra (a planned city with a unique school system) to other parts of Australia has no merit.

Page, Scullin, Weetangera, Hawker. Very different suburbs, same high school area?

The phenomena of moving into school zones has been observed in Melbourne for years. Families will acquire a residential address in zone so their child can attend Balwyn High, McKinnon etc. I can remember people acquiring addresses in zone 40 years ago to attend Mentone Girls.

"Not only can poor families not afford access to private schools, they are often also locked out of the best public schools."

This really goes without saying, doesn't it? Poor families and the areas which they live correlate with real estate prices. They also correlate with less infrastructure and less services. I think they call this economics ...

Surely a more useful debate is how to improve public education and what the reasons are as to why private school education has boomed. Is it really an issue of public going down the proverbial toilet? For us, it is more an issue of providing my children with the best education I can afford.

What does a parent consider when determining the "best education" available? This parent considers the following:

1. Activities available to children - not purely educational, but sporting, etc.

2. Infrastructure - the quality of the school rooms, computers, etc.

3. School ethos and values.

4. Peer groups - bullying etc.

5. Quality of teaching staff.