Where Does Your School Rank in Funding?

THE Upper Hunter is fortunate to have a range of good schools from the tiny Belltrees primary school with less than 20 students through to the larger St Joseph’s High School in Aberdeen with more than 600 students.

Recently, ABC News published Rich School Poor School: Australia’s Great Education Divide, a report which ranked 8,500 schools from highest to lowest in income between 2013 and 2017, drawn from the My School website.

The report showed that half of the $22billion spent on capital projects in Australian schools was spent on just 10 percent of the schools and reaped 28 percent of the $8.6 billion in capital spending funded by government.

It also detailed the ranking of schools in the Upper Hunter with some surprising results. See table below.

There are some understandable disparities based on the size of the schools, for example Belltrees Public School had the highest income per student at $22,485, but only has less than 20 students so by no means is it realistic to draw from that it is the richest school in the Upper Hunter.

The report also focuses on capital expenditure, but does not include the recurrent funding of running each school.

While there are many variables to gauge the relative wealth of a school, the report gives an interesting snap shot of our local schools.

Capital expenditure between 2015 and 2017

The greatest overall capital expenditure was Scone Grammar School with $4,971,732, which also had the greatest government contribution to capital expenditure of $903,484.

The least overall capital expenditure was at St Mary’s Primary School in Scone which was $6,868 and the least government expenditure on capital were the three Catholic schools: St Joseph’s Primary School Merriwa, St Joseph’s High School Aberdeen and St Mary’s Primary School, Scone which received no government expenditure on capital works.

Income per student: 2013 – 2018

Overall the highest income per student was Belltrees Public School which was $22,485 per student and the least income per student was Scone Public School which was $11,731.

The highest government contribution per student was also Belltrees Public School which was $32,311 and the least per student, St Mary’s Primary School, Scone was $10,428 per student.

Enrolments: 2013 – 2018

Enrolment between 2013 to 2018 showed the biggest growth percentage was 70% at Belltrees to 17 students, the least was Scone Grammar School with a decline of 18% with 495 students.

Schools which declined in enrolments included: Scone Grammar School, Scone Public School, Blandford Public School, Scone High School, Murrurundi Public School and St Joseph’s Primary School. Ellerston Public School remained even with 0% change.

Schools which grew in enrolments were Aberdeen Public School, St Joseph’s High School, Merriwa Central School, St Mary’s Primary School and Belltrees Public School.