Page 3551 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 15 November 2006
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It is true that demographic changes are not the only reason for declines in enrolments in our government schools. That is a factor not just in the ACT, but across all jurisdictions in Australia. We do acknowledge that the reasons for changing enrolment patterns are very complex, but we cannot ignore demographic changes either and the demographic changes are significant as they impact on long-term planning for the ACT education system. The system has been very successful, but the government does have a responsibility to ensure that the system meets the needs of the community as it is and will be, not as it was.
It is for that reason that the Towards 2020 package provides the largest capital funding injection for education since self-government. We want to ensure that our schools give students the opportunities that they deserve, both now and into the future, and we want those opportunities to be available in government schools. As I have indicated, there are many reasons for the drift in enrolments to the non-government sector, but it is a national phenomenon. Between 2000 and 2005, the national average increase in non-government enrolments was around 10.3 per cent. I understand that in the ACT over that period the increase was slightly less at 10.2 per cent. The greatest increase, 19 per cent, was seen in Western Australia.
All the national research indicates that parents value aspects such as religious instruction, school uniforms and the perception that non-government schools offer a particular type of peer group and disciplinary environment. But, interestingly, total ACT enrolment figures appear to indicate a correlation between increased federal government funding to non-government schools and the drift in enrolments to that sector. In the 10 years from 1986 to 1996, total non-government enrolments in the ACT increased by 1,203 students. In contrast, in the 10 years to 2006 from the demise of the commonwealth’s new schools policy in 1996, non-government school enrolments increased by 3,200 students.
Every year the gap in federal funding widens. In the financial year 2001-02, the federal government provided nearly $30 million to ACT government schools, compared to the $73.85 million provided to non-government schools in the territory. In this financial year the federal government is budgeting to spend $43.75 million on ACT government schools and $115.9 million on the non-government sector. This funding gap has increased from $43.8 million in 2001-02 to $72.2 million in 2006-07, an increase of about 64 per cent in the last five years. Is it any surprise that families are taking the cue from the federal government and moving to where the money is going?
Other factors affecting enrolments in the ACT include the increase in the number of non-government schools and expansion of the year groups offered by established non-government schools. Significantly, I think we must also acknowledge that the ACT has a particular social profile—a high proportion of public servants and academics, and many families with two parents working in professional positions. That means that Canberra families are more likely to have the financial resources and information to exercise educational choices.
Importantly also, the ACT’s small geographic size means that parents can and do exercise choice in where they send their children to school and it is often other than
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