What a revealing article. It says more about the author’s world view than it does about education funding in Australia.

Alan Matheson’s article is not a critique or a reasoned argument, it is a polemic. The so called examples he cites are unverified, and there’s no indication as to their source.

Apparently in Alan Matheson’s world all public schools have broken toilets, and all Christian schools have “heated swimming pools”. Both ideas are equally absurd.

This author either does not know – or chooses to ignore – that the diversity in the Australian community applies equally to all school settings.

And what exactly does he mean by the term “Christian” school? Does he mean “church” school? Does he mean community based Christian school? Parent-run Christian school? Denominational? Non-denominational? Systemic? Independent?

I represent about 150 Christian schools, member of Christian Schools Australia.

CSA member schools are representative of the very thing Mr Matheson apparently despises: local faith-based schools which have been growing in number and enrolments over the last 20 years as parents increasingly exercise their right to choose a school on the basis of faith, beliefs and values and ethos.

Christian schools in this growing sector have been established by local, individual, churches and parent groups.

They are all not-for-profit organisations. Individuals – mums and dads and community volunteers – took the financial risk of seeing the school established, providing for its growth, and in ensuring it has a sustainable future.

The growth of these schools represents a very substantial investment by mums & dads and their local church communities in the education of Australia’s children.

They invest family income to make up the difference between public funding and the cost of providing education services to the community. The amount invested each year by parents of non-government school children as a whole is about $ 4 billion.

So how much public funding do Christian schools get -- those singled out for attack by Mr Matheson?

See my next post in this forum for the details (continued.....)

(Continued...)

This is the research Alan Matheson should have done before posting his uninformed opinion. First, federal funding.

What he should know is that all non-government schools in Australia are funded on the same basis. All are funded according to a formula which links the socio-economic status (SES) of the school’s community with their level of funding.

Schools in well-off communities get less funding. Schools in poorer areas get more funding. None of them get as much per student as the local government school – by definition.

The growing Christian schools have generally been in working class and lower middle class areas, providing choice not previously available to these families.

The average SES score for schools in CSA is 97 (on a scale where 85 is the lowest and 130 is the highest).

An SES score of 97 qualifies for funding at 55% of the AGSRC. What’s that? It is a measurement of the Average Government School Recurrent Cost – the average cost of educating the equivalent child in a government school.

The average CSA school receives, in federal funding, 55 % of the per-student funding of government schools.

Not more funding than government schools – less. Just over half as much.

Non-government schools also receive a lesser amount of funding from state governments. It's different in every state.

The best comparison comes from the Productivity Commission’s analysis of the level of public funding in all sectors, taking into account ALL funding from ALL governments.

The Commission’s study shows the average public funding for a student in a government school is $10,715. The average public funding for a non-government school student is $6,054.

For every $ 1.00 invested per student in public education by Australia’s governments, the same governments invest $ 0.67 per student in non-government schooling.

(continued in a third and final post...)

runner: "At some schools the only thing free are the needles and condoms."

Why is it that some "Christians" feel the need to tell lies?

Name one Australian school - government or otherwise - where needles and condoms are freely distributed.

Well I am an atheist and a confirmed believer in public education. You really have to be gullible to believe that people setting up and running Christian schools are doing so because of an overwhelming commitment to Christian principles. Take away the government subsidies and see how long that commitment lasts.

With all due respect to others with genuine and legitimate concern for justice in education, I want you to know that Christians, and Christian schools, vary enormously.There are wealthy Christian schools and wealthy Christian school parents. There are wealthy state school parents too. There are wealthy non-Christian schools. I personally work in a small Christian school which has a high proprtion of families who earn well below average wages and work hard to raise funds for our simple facilities. I know of other such Christian schools who work on tight budgets and serve many struggling families who wish to make educational choices for their children. We have quite low fees and substantial discounts for people in particular need. I personally work fulltime for a parttime salary. Please do not look at the examples of a few well-established and well resourced schools and make sweeping generalizations as if we are all wealthy, elitist and working in luxury.

CJ Morgan

You accuse me of lying even though at no stage did I say the Government schools provide condoms and needles. This is not because some in public schools don't want these machines installed. There have been many calls for them. The only thing that prevents them is the public outcry. All you need to do is read last weeks Herald Sun to see how teachers were taking children to receive the 'morning after pill' without the parents knowledge to realise how sick the mentality of some of our social engineers are. I don't need to lie or exagarate the lack of morals taught in many (not all ) of the Public schools. Just ask the Labour and Democrat members who send their kids to private schools.