Writer
Trevor Cobbold
Trevor Cobbold is National Convenor of Save Our Schools.
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Wealthy schools pocket millions in JobKeeper funds despite profits
Blessed are the rich! The payments to elite schools despite their healthy bottom lines and vast assets highlight the pressing need for education funding reform. Continue reading »
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Private schools brawl to get their snouts deeper in the funding trough
A coalition of Independent schools complained (on the ABC 7.30 Report) that they are disadvantaged by the Morrison Government’s new funding model because their funding increase is not as big as others. They want yet another special deal from the Morrison Government as do many other Independent schools. Continue reading »
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Education department refuses to hold private schools accountable for taxpayer funding
Yet another damning report by the Auditor-General shows that the Commonwealth Department of Education continues to fail to fully hold private school systems accountable for how they distribute taxpayer funding. It also criticises the Minister for Education and the Department for failing to meet their parliamentary reporting obligations. Continue reading »
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Tudge fudges school results and funding
The Minister for Education, Alan Tudge, was fudging figures to denigrate Australia’s school performance at the The Age education summit last week. He claimed the UK as the new benchmark for education performance, but ignored serious flaws in the reporting of its results. He also fudged data on school funding and student results in Australia. Continue reading »
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Numbers don’t lie: Public schools underfunded by $60bn; private overfunded by $6bn
The Morrison Government has abandoned all pretence at funding private schools according to need and has washed its hands of ensuring that public schools are fully funded. Continue reading »
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Beware false idols of education excellence: take PISA test results with a grain of salt
Research shows that a large majority of students do not fully try on low-stakes tests such as PISA. There is little incentive for students to perform because there are no personal consequences. This could help explain the stark contradiction between Australia’s falling PISA results and its improving Year 12 results. Continue reading »
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Morrison’s private school funding model ignores the Bank of Mum and Dad
Private schools will receive $130 billion from the Federal Government over the next eight years. It constitutes massive over-funding by taxpayers because the Government’s funding model ignores a major source of family income used to assess the financial need of private schools. Continue reading »
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Public schools are as good as private schools
The widely held myth that private schools deliver better results than public schools has taken another blow. A new study of NAPLAN results shows that public schools do as well as private schools despite the large resource advantage of private schools. Continue reading »
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To those that have more will be given: Education resource gaps in Australia
New evidence shows that education resource gaps between disadvantaged and advantaged schools in Australia are among the largest in the OECD and the world. This is a shameful record for a country that regards itself as egalitarian. Continue reading »
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Private school funding model is deeply flawed
The Morrison Government’s funding model for private schools introduced earlier this year is littered with flaws and will result in massive over-funding of schools. It should be replaced by a new approach. Continue reading »
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New expose of Catholic Church’s rorting of taxpayer funding
Documents leaked to the ABC expose shocking rorting of taxpayer funding by the NSW Catholic school system with the approval of Catholic bishops. It is the latest in a long line of exposes about misuse of government funding by Catholic systems and which successive Coalition and Labor governments have meekly acquiesced to. Continue reading »
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The Bureaucratisation of Public Education in Australia
Public school systems in Australia have seen an enormous increase in bureaucracy since the turn of the century. So-called school reforms promised less bureaucratic control but have instead intensified bureaucracy at all levels – central and regional offices, schools and for teachers. Continue reading »
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Catholic School Systems Required to be More Transparent About How They Use Taxpayer Funds
Catholic school systems have been diverting taxpayer funding for schools in poor areas to schools in wealthy inner suburbs for years. Many official and other reports have documented this unethical and unchristian practice. It may at last be about to change. Continue reading »
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Public Schools Face a Funding Crisis While Private Schools Are in Clover
Government funding increases continue to massively favour private schools over public schools according to new figures published by the Australian Curriculum, Reporting and Assessment Authority (ACARA). Continue reading »
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Turnbull Exposes Rorting of School Funding by Catholic Church
In his recently published memoirs, Malcolm Turnbull thoroughly exposes the hypocrisy of Catholic education authorities in diverting taxpayer funding intended for poor schools to subsidise rich inner-city schools. In doing so, he exposed his own hypocrisy by allowing them to continue to do so under his Gonski 2.0 funding model. Continue reading »
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New Figures Show Huge Funding Increases for Private Schools & Cuts to Public Schools
New figures show that government (Commonwealth and State) funding increases massively favoured private schools over public schools between 2009-10 and 2017-18. Continue reading »
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Disadvantaged Schools in Australia Are Far Less Resourced than Advantaged Schools
Data from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018 show that Australia allocates more and better quality teacher and physical resources to high socio-economic status (SES) secondary schools than to low SES schools. The gaps are amongst the largest in the OECD. The highest performing OECD countries generally allocate resources more equitably Continue reading »
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OECD Says 3 in 4 Australian Students Do Not Try on PISA Tests
The hand-wringing over the continuing decline in Australia’s PISA results misses the issue of whether students try their best on the tests. The OECD’s report on PISA 2018 shows that about three in four Australian students and two-thirds of students in OECD countries did not try their hardest on the tests. There are also wide Continue reading »
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Skulduggery by the Morrison & Andrews Governments Robs Victorian Public Schools of Billions
Skulduggery between the Morrison and Victorian Labor Government will defraud Victorian public schools of about $17 billion over ten years to 2028. The new funding agreement between the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments signed last month will mean that public schools will be under-funded indefinitely while private schools are fully funded or more by 2023 at Continue reading »
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The Facts About School Funding in NSW
The reputation of the NSW Government for fully implementing the Gonski funding model is totally unwarranted. The NSW Government took the opportunity of increased Commonwealth funding for public schools during 2013-2017 to cut its own inflation adjusted funding of public schools while maintaining funding for private schools. This continued the trend from earlier years. Continue reading »
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The Facts About School Funding in Australia
Australia has an inequitable school funding system that continues to discriminate against public schools and disadvantaged students. Government funding has been badly mis-directed over many years with massive increases for the more privileged, better-off school sectors and students and far less for public schools. Continue reading »
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Money Really Does Matter in Education
Three new US studies have found that increasing funding for disadvantaged students increases school results. They bring to 21 the number of studies in the last five years showing that funding increases targeted at disadvantaged students improves achievement. This is a remarkable degree of unanimity amongst education economists. Even notorious sceptics of the worth of Continue reading »
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Funding Increases for Private Schools Continue to Outstrip Increases for Public Schools
New funding figures show that government funding increases for private schools continue to far outstrip increases for public schools. Government funding per student in public schools (adjusted for inflation) was cut between 2009-10 and 2016-17 while private schools received a massive increase. Even during the Gonski funding period of 2012-13 to 2016-17 increases in funding Continue reading »
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Govt Concealing Catholic Schools’ Use of Taxpayer Funds
Public accountability for the use of taxpayer funding is a fundamental tenet of democratic government. Yet, this principle has long been ignored by Catholic education authorities who refuse to reveal how they distribute government funding amongst their schools despite it being a legislative requirement. Their refusal has been connived at by successive governments that failed Continue reading »
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Education Department Slammed for Failure to Monitor How School Systems Distribute Taxpayer Funding
The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit of the Parliament has slammed the Commonwealth Department of Education for failing to ensure that government funding of public and private school systems is distributed according to needs-based principles. Continue reading »
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Public Schools are Defrauded by Billions Under New Funding Agreements
Public schools are being defrauded by billions under school funding agreements finalised at the end of last year between the Commonwealth and state/territory governments (“the states”). Public schools in all states except the ACT will be under-funded indefinitely while private schools in all states except the Northern Territory will be fully funded or more by Continue reading »
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Money Matters for Student Outcomes
A new comprehensive review of academic studies in the United States has found overwhelming evidence of a strong causal relationship between increased school spending and student outcomes. It concludes that “the question of whether money matters is essentially settled” and that “….any claim that there is little evidence of a statistical link between school spending Continue reading »
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WA public schools lose billions under new Education Agreement.
Public schools will lose about $6.1 billion in funding over ten years from 2018 under the new Bilateral Agreement between the Commonwealth and Western Australian Governments published last week. It means that public schools will be under-funded by about $4.6 billion to 2027. In contrast, a special provision in the Agreement will allow private schools Continue reading »
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Public Schools Are Swindled by Billions Under New Education Agreements.
Public schools in NSW and South Australia will be swindled by about $7.5 billion over the next decade under new special deals incorporated in education agreements recently negotiated with the Commonwealth Government. The loss to NSW public schools is about $6.1 billion over the ten years and about $1.4 billion for South Australian public schools. Continue reading »
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Australia’s education system is nearly the most unequal in the developed world.
Australia prides itself on its egalitarian ethos, but it is a myth in education. Not only do we have one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD and the world, but a report just published by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) shows that Australia’s education system is nearly the most Continue reading »
