Money Invested, Money Saved: How non-government schools ease the public burden by over $5.0 billion a year

A new report from the Kathleen Burrow Research Institute, Catholic Schools NSW’s research unit, shows that Australian taxpayers save billions each year when the Government supports the mixed model provision of schooling (Government, Catholic, and Independent) by investing in non-government education in Australia.

The report, Money Invested, Money Saved, calculates the savings to Australian taxpayers when the Government decides to partially fund non-government schools in Australia. It reveals that when all schools receive their full funding entitlement under the Australian Education Act formula, savings to taxpayers will be $6.88 billion each year in recurrent funding. These savings include $2.19 billion for primary students and $4.69 billion for secondary students. Catholic schools make up $3.19 billion of these savings, and Independent schools $3.69 billion. On average, it would cost taxpayers 31% more per student to educate these children in government schools.

The report comes at a time when enrolments are decreasing in the government sector and increasing in the non-government sector. According to the latest statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, almost 37 per cent of Australian school students are in non-government schools and in the case of Catholic Education, it supports nearly 20 per cent of students across the country, and over one in five students in NSW.