This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
Jurisdiction
Commonwealth
Act Number
187 of 1978
Collection
act
Plain English Summary
8/10 complexity
What This Law Does
The States Grants (Schools Assistance) Act 1978 is a Commonwealth law that authorises the federal government to hand money to the six Australian States to fund their schools for the calendar year 1979. Think of it as the annual federal education budget for schools, broken down by category and by State, with strict rules attached about how every dollar must be spent.
Who Does It Affect?
State governments, who receive the grants and must comply with conditions on spending
Government schools (primary, secondary, special, and disadvantaged schools)
Non-government schools — but not private schools run for profit (e.g. Catholic, Anglican and independent schools that reinvest all funds)
Migrant and multicultural communities, whose children have specific programs funded under this Act
Children in residential care (e.g. welfare or correctional institutions)
Teachers attending professional development programs
Approved education centres — teacher professional development bodies
What It Funds
The Act carves up Commonwealth education money into several clearly labelled buckets:
— construction, land purchase, extensions, and fitting-out of government and non-government schools (but teacher housing or facilities primarily for religious worship)
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
Building and equipment projects
not
General recurrent (day-to-day) costs — salaries, supplies, ongoing running costs of government schools
Migrant education — special English-language and culturally-adapted programs for migrant children at both government and non-government schools
Multicultural education — teaching languages other than English and culturally inclusive programs across all schools
Disadvantaged schools — extra funding for schools whose students, due to social, economic, ethnic, geographic, cultural or language barriers, have below-average capacity to benefit from ordinary schooling
Disadvantaged country areas — extra support for rural students facing similar disadvantage
Special schools — schools for children with disabilities or other special needs
Residential institutions — education for children living in welfare or correctional homes
Service and development activities — in-service teacher training and cross-sector collaboration between government and non-government teachers
Teacher exchange programs — temporary transfer of teachers between schools to broaden their skills
Approved special projects — innovation and change projects in primary or secondary education
Approved education centres — bodies run by teachers to improve teaching quality
How the Money Flows
The funding chain has several steps and safeguards:
The Commonwealth Education Minister authorises payment to each State, up to the dollar caps set out in the Schedules (tables) at the back of the Act.
For government schools, the State must spend the money as directed and provide a certified statement confirming it did so.
For non-government schools, the State passes the money to an approved authority (the school's governing body or the body running a school system), which must sign a legally binding agreement with the State to spend it correctly and repay any misspent funds.
Certified proof of spending — either from an authorised State official or a qualified accountant — must be lodged with the Minister, generally by 30 June 1980.
If a State or school authority misuses the money, it must repay it to the Commonwealth.
Key Guardrails
Every funding category has a maximum dollar cap, broken down by State (e.g. NSW receives the largest share, Tasmania the smallest, reflecting population differences).
The Minister can shift money between States within a category if the States request it — as long as the total national pool for that category doesn't change.
Grants cannot be counted twice — money spent under one condition cannot also be counted under another.
Building projects funded under this Act cannot be used primarily for teacher housing or religious worship.
The Act also amends the 1977 predecessor Act to update the dollar figures in its schedules.
Why It Matters
This Act is a snapshot of how the Commonwealth used its financial power (under section 96 of the Constitution, which allows grants to States on conditions) to shape education policy without directly running schools — which remain a State responsibility. It reflects the era's policy priorities: support for migrant communities, concern for disadvantaged students, and early efforts at multicultural education. The detailed conditions and repayment obligations ensured Commonwealth money could not simply vanish into State consolidated revenue.