Total Federal Government funding per student for Australian public schools rose by 115.2 per cent over the past decade, compared with 15.8 per cent for private schools although the total Federal Government expenditure per student is still higher for private school students at $6434 compared with $1915 for public school students.
Meanwhile total State and Territory funding to Australian public schools per student grew from $9112 in 2003-04 to $13788 in 2012-13. State and Territory funding for the nation’s private schools rose from $2124 to $2378 per student over the same period.
The School Education chapter (chapter 4) of the Productivity Commission’s annual Report on Government Services (RoGS) reports on government funded primary and secondary school education. Some performance indicators are reported for government schools, non-government schools and school education as a whole.
Australian, State and Territory government recurrent expenditure on school education was $47.9 billion in 2012-13. Expenditure on government schools was $36.9 billion, or 76.9 per cent of total government recurrent expenditure on school education. Government schools account for most of the expenditure by State and Territory governments, although these governments also contribute to the funding of nongovernment schools and provide services used by both government and non-government schools.
Nationally, State and Territory governments provided 87.8 per cent of total government recurrent expenditure on government schools in 2012-13, and the Australian Government provided 12.2 per cent. In contrast, government expenditure on non-government schools in that year was mainly provided by the Australian Government (73.0 per cent), with State and Territory governments providing 27.0 per cent.
Nationally, in 2012-13, in-school government expenditure per student in government primary schools was $13763 and in government secondary schools was $16852. Out-of-school government expenditure per student in all government schools was $757 in 2012-13.
Nationally, in 2012-13, government expenditure per student in all government schools was $15703. It increased in average annual real terms between 2008-09 and 2012-13 by 1.0 per cent per year.
Nationally, in 2012-13, government expenditure per student in all non-government schools was $8812. It increased in average annual real terms between 2008-09 and 2012-13 by 3.7 per cent per year.
Nationally, in 2012-13, government recurrent expenditure per student in all schools (government plus non-government) was $13 298. It increased in average annual real terms between 2008-09 and 2012-13 by 1.5 per cent per year.
Government recurrent expenditure on staff in government schools accounted for $23.4 billion (63.6 per cent) of total recurrent expenditure in 2012-13. Nationally, expenditure on staff per student was $8870 for in-school primary, $10 594 for in-school secondary and $457 for out-of-school.