Bills Digest No. 30 2001-02
States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance)
Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2001
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
The Issues
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
States Grants (Primary and Secondary
Education Assistance) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2001
Date Introduced: 8 August 2001
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Education, Training and Youth Affairs
Commencement: Royal Assent
The Bill will
amend the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education
Assistance) Act 2000 (the current Act) to increase the total
funding available for establishment assistance for new
non-government schools for the program years 2001 to 2004.
The provisions in this Bill were first
introduced through the Innovation and Education Legislation
Amendment Bill 2001. On a motion of the Australian Labor Party, the
Senate moved that the Bill be split into three separate bills to
enable further consideration of the separate provisions within the
Bill.
Establishment assistance for new non-government
schools was introduced under s. 75 of the current Act. The purpose
of this assistance, as stated by the Minister for Education,
Training and Youth Affairs, is 'to assist new non-government
schools with the costs incurred in their formative years and to
enable them to be competitive with existing
schools'.(1)
The Quadrennial Administrative Guidelines for
Schools (the Guidelines) state that the grants are available for
all newly commencing non-government schools that are approved for
Commonwealth general recurrent grants, except those new schools
formed as a result of the amalgamation or separation of existing
funded schools.(2) The grants were also made
retrospective for those newly commencing non-systemic schools that
applied for Commonwealth general recurrent funding after 11 May
1999 and which were approved with effect from 1999 or 2000.
The grants are paid automatically to eligible
schools with no requirement for schools to apply for the grants.
They are paid at a rate of $500 per full-time equivalent (FTE)
student for the first year of a school's operation and $250 per FTE
student for the second year of operation. These rates are not
legislated but are a matter for ministerial determination. As at 6
July 2001, $749 200, (50 per cent of the estimated total 2001
entitlement), had been paid to 49 schools, 33 of which are new
non-systemic schools that commenced in the 1999 and 2000 program
years, and 16 are new systemic and non-systemic schools approved
for general recurrent funding in 2001.(3)
This Bill does not alter the per student rates
but increases the allocation for the grants from $4.726 million for
the 2001 to 2004 program years to $14.260 million, an increase of
$9.534 million. This increase, as stated by the Minister in his
second reading speech to this Bill, has been necessitated by
'parameter change'.
The original allocation for these grants was
projected using 1999 FTE census enrolments for new non-government
schools. However, while the number of new non-government schools
approved for Commonwealth general recurrent funding in 2000 was
less than the number approved in 1999, (38 compared to 39), the
numbers of students in these new non-government schools escalated,
from 1692.4 FTE census enrolments in 1999 to 3399.4 in 2000. This
increase is attributable to the atypically large enrolments of
three new non-government schools in that year.
For the purposes of forward estimates for
establishment grants for 2001-2004 the Department of Education,
Training and Youth Affairs has estimated 37 new schools in each of
the program years, and enrolments of 7387 for 2001, 12 028 for
2002, and 8433 for 2003 and 2004.(4) (The reason for the
larger number in 2002 relates to the way the grants are paid over
two years. Therefore the 2002 projections include students from
those non-systemic schools that applied after 11 May 1999 and were
approved for funding in 1999 and 2000, and those students from 2001
and 2002 new schools.)
Another reason for the increase in funding is
that the original estimates did not allow for those new
non-systemic schools that had lodged applications after 11 May 1999
and were approved for funding in 1999 and 2000.(5)
In the context of the debate on the Innovation
and Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2001 concern was expressed
about the changes to the original estimates for the grants, with
the subsequent percentage increases of 330 per cent for 2001, 262
per cent for 2002 and 128 per cent for 2003. There was also
questioning as to why these amendments were not introduced when the
current Act was legislated and questioning of the legislative
method of their original introduction, through an omnibus bill
rather than a specific schools bill.
The principal ongoing issues in relation to
establishment grants for new non-government schools relate to the
guidelines and accountability provisions for the grants, and the
issue of equity vis-à-vis government schools.
While the Australian Labor Party, unlike the
Australian Democrats, do not oppose the concept of the grants, the
two parties, together with the Australian Education Union and the
Independent Education Union of Australia, have called for clearer
guidelines and accountability provisions for the
grants.(6) Those concerned about the application of the
grants have not been reassured by departmental confirmation in
committee hearings on the Innovation and Education Legislation
Amendment Bill 2001 that the grants could conceivably be used for
advertising.(7)
There are specific eligibility criteria for
establishment grants, and application guidelines and financial
accountability requirements are as for the program of General
Recurrent Grants for non-government schools. The stated objective
for these grants is to 'help non-government schools with the
recurrent costs of school education so that they can offer students
educational programmes directed towards the achievement of the
Commonwealth's priorities for schools.'(8) The
Guidelines direct that recurrent grants can be applied to teaching
and ancillary staff salaries; professional development of teachers;
curriculum development; and maintenance and general operation
provisions. Financial accountability requirements for general
recurrent grants are set out in Appendix F of the
Guidelines.(9) These accountability mechanisms are also
part of the formal agreement that non-government schools and
systems are required to enter into with the Commonwealth before
payment of general recurrent and establishment grants can be
made.
There has also been some discussion as to what
constitutes an eligible school. There is a view, as expressed in
the minority report by Labor Senators on the Innovation and
Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2001, that some of the new
non-government schools that have qualified for establishment grants
may be extensions of existing schools, thereby breaching the
eligibility guidelines.(10) However, according to state
registration practices, these schools are categorised as new
schools and therefore entitled to the grants. The Australian
Education Union in its submission on the Innovation and Education
Legislation Amendment Bill also argued that a minimum enrolment
benchmark should form part of the eligibility criteria.
Opponents of the operation of the establishment
grants view the grants as further evidence for their claims
relating to the disparity of Commonwealth funding for
non-government schools vis-à-vis government schools. The
automatic conferral of the grants without examination of the
circumstances of schools has created contention. Unlike the major
general recurrent grants for non-government schools, establishment
grants are not scaled according to need. There is also no similar
Commonwealth assistance for new government schools. Both the
Australian Democrats(11) and the Australian Education
Union have advocated establishment assistance for new government
schools, while the Australian Labor Party has recommended
additional capital expenditure of $30 million for government
schools to match this new funding for non-government
schools.(12)
Schedule 1 amends Schedule 7 of
the current Act substituting the amount of the funding available
for establishment grants for each of the program years as
follows:
-
- for 2001, $3 693 000 is substituted for
$859 000
-
- for 2002, $4 679 000 is substituted for
$1 289 000, and
-
- for 2003 and 2004, $2 944 000 each year is
substituted for $1 289 000.
-
- Dr the Hon D. Kemp, House of Representatives, Debates,
6 September 2000, Second Reading Speech.
- Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (2001),
Commonwealth programmes for schools: quadrennial administrative
guidelines 2001 to 2004, DETYA, Canberra, p. 29.
- Answer to Senate Estimates Question E203, 2001.
- Answers to Senate Estimates Questions E72, E74, and E202, 2001.
- Australia. Senate. Employment, Workplace Relations, Small
Business and Education Legislation Committee, Proof Committee
Hansard, 15 June 2001, p. 35.
- See Australia. Senate. Employment, Workplace Relations, Small
Business and Education Legislation Committee, Consideration of
provisions: Innovation and Education Legislation Amendment Bill
2001 (available at website
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/eet_ctte/ed_innovbills2001/ed_innovbills01.pdf);
and submissions by the Australian Education Union and the
Independent Education Union of Australia, (available at website
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/eet_ctte/ed_innovbills2001/sublist.htm).
- Australia. Senate. Employment, Workplace Relations, Small
Business and Education Legislation Committee, Proof Committee
Hansard, 15 June 2001, p. 39.
- Op. cit. Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs,
p. 28.
- Op. cit. Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs,
pp. 168-169.
- Op. cit., Consideration of provisions, note 6, pp. 12-13.
- Senator Lyn Allison, 'Government hypocritical on schools bill',
Media release, 29 June 2001.
- Australia Senate, Employment, Workplace Relations, Small
Business and Education Legislation Committee, Consideration of
provisions: Innovation and Education Legislation Amendment Bill
2001, p. 13.
Marilyn Harrington
23 August 2001
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ISSN 1328-8091
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