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Commonwealth act
This Act is the Commonwealth's funding framework for non-government (private and Catholic) primary and secondary schools across Australia for the years 2009 to 2013. It sets out how much money the federal government will give to States, which then pass the money on to private schools.
The Commonwealth pays money to each State, and the State must pass it on to the relevant private school or school system. There are three types of funding:
Recurrent funding — covering everyday running costs (staff, materials, etc.). This is calculated using a complex formula based on the school's SES score (Socio-Economic Status score — a measure of how wealthy or disadvantaged the school's community is). Schools in wealthier communities get a smaller percentage of a government school benchmark figure; schools in disadvantaged communities get more.
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Direct links to the current provisions in Schools Assistance Act 2008.
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View on official registerSourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
Capital funding — for buildings, equipment, land, libraries and infrastructure upgrades.
Targeted funding — for specific programs such as English language support for new arrivals, literacy and numeracy programs, and students with disabilities.
There are extra loading payments (top-up amounts) for:
Schools that were receiving a certain level of funding in 2008 are guaranteed not to receive less than that amount — a protection against funding cuts during the transition to the new formula.
Schools must sign a funding agreement (a contract with the Commonwealth) and meet obligations including:
If a school breaches its funding agreement, the Minister can:
If a State fails to pass the money on to the school, the Commonwealth can require the State to repay it.
This Act is essentially a detailed rulebook governing how billions of dollars in federal education funding flows to Australia's private schools over a five-year period, with accountability requirements designed to ensure the money is spent properly and that schools meet national education standards.