Bills Digest no. 23 2006–07
Schools Assistance (Learning Together Achievement
Through Choice and Opportunity)
Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2006
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
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Schools
Assistance (Learning Together Achievement Through Choice
and Opportunity)
Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2006
Date introduced: 6 September 2006
House: House of
Representatives
Portfolio: Education, Science and Training
Commencement: Royal Assent
The purpose of the bill is to amend the Schools Assistance
(Learning Together Achievement Through Choice and
Opportunity) Act 2004 (the current Act) to
provide capital grants funding for government and non-government
schools for the years 2009 to 2011.
The majority of Australian Government funding for schools is
provided on a four yearly basis. The current Act provides funding
for the 2005 to 2008 quadrennium.
The
bill amends the current Act to provide capital funding to schools
for the years 2009 to 2011. This funding amounts to just over $1
billion, of which $747 million will be allocated to government
schools and $258.5 million to non-government schools. The bill is a
routine procedure which takes account of the long-term nature of
many capital works projects.
While
the bill continues the same level of annual capital grants funding
for government schools as provided under the current Act, the level
of capital funding for non-government schools is reduced. The
current Act provides $101.8 million in capital grants funding for
non‑government schools for each of the years 2005 to 2007,
and $90.1 million for 2008. The bill provides $86.2 million for
each of the years 2009 to 2011. The reduction in annual funding for
non-government schools from 2007 reflects the lapsing of two
programs of capital funding for non‑government schools.
Since
1996 the Australian Government has augmented the base funding level
for the non‑government sector by an additional $10 million
per year. This funding, which compensated for a number of fixed
term targeted elements for hostels, Indigenous students and
technology infrastructure in the non-government schools sector that
ended in 1996, lapses in June 2007. There will be a review this
year to determine if there is a need for a continuation of this
funding.
Additional funding of $17 million provided to Northern
Territory non-government schools serving students in isolated areas
since 2005 also lapses after 2008. This additional funding was
provided in recognition of the greater costs that are encountered
for capital works in these areas compared to metropolitan and
regional areas. It also reflected the results of a survey of
non-government schools infrastructure conducted in 2000 and
2001.(1)
Capital grants for schools assist government and non-government
school authorities with the provision and upgrading of school
infrastructure, including land, buildings, water and electricity,
equipment, library materials and cataloguing services, furniture,
and residential accommodation for government school students.
Capital grants for government schools are distributed as block
grants to state and territory government school systems and are
allocated to each state and territory on the basis of their share
of total government school enrolments. Block Grant Authorities
(BGAs) manage the process for non-government schools. Funds for
non-government schools are allocated to BGAs on the basis of
enrolments and need. Capital grants are supplemented annually
according to movements in the Building Price Index (BPI) as
published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.(2)
Capital grants constitute only a small proportion of total
Australian Government funding for schools. According to figures
published in the 2004 report on financial assistance provided to
each state and territory, capital grants represent about 5.2 per
cent of total Australian Government specific purpose payments for
school education.(3)
This
figure is exclusive of funding provided by the Investing in our
Schools Programme (IOSP) which was introduced in 2005. From 2005 to
2008 the IOSP will provide $1 billion, ($700 million for
government schools and $300 million for non-government schools),
for small scale infrastructure projects (e.g. library resources,
computer facilities, air-conditioning and heating, outdoor areas,
sports and play equipment).(4)
While,
as the Minister for Education, Science and Training indicates in
her second reading speech on the bill, the majority of capital
grants funding is provided to government schools, overall, in the
context of total estimated Australian Government funding for
schools, non-government schools receive the majority of funding.
For instance, in 2006‑07, non-government schools will receive
approximately 64 per cent of total funding.(5)
Items 1 to 3 of Schedule 1
provide $249 000 000 in capital grants to government schools for
each of the years 2009 to 2011.
Items 4 to 6 of Schedule 1
provide $86 173 000 in capital grants to non-government schools for
each of the years 2009 to 2011.
Endnotes
- Australia. Department of Education, Science and Training
(DEST), Taking Stock: Report of the Survey of Non-Government
Schools Infrastructure in Australia 2000/2001, DEST, Canberra,
2002,
http://www.dest.gov.au/archive/schools/publications/2002/infrastructure/TakingStock.pdf,
accessed on 8 September 2006.
- For further information see Australia. Department of Education,
Science and Training (DEST), Australian Government Programmes
for Schools Quadrennial Administrative Guidelines 2005 2008: 2006
Update, DEST, Canberra, 2006, pp. 23 27 and pp. 73 80,
http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/C9EA75DE-EAAE-4CB2-B79E-B5D20D78C6BE/13155/AdminGuidelines2005_2008.pdf,
accessed on 11 September 2006.
- Australia. Department of Education, Science and Training
(DEST), States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education
Assistance) Act 2000: Report on Financial Assistance Granted to
each State in Respect of 2004, DEST, Canberra, 2005,
http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/38258BC4-3018-4827-9BC2-68EECAC3D1D5/8467/FinancialAssistanceGrantedToEachState_2004.pdf,
accessed on 8 September 2006.
- For further information about the IOSP see Marilyn Harrington,
Schools Assistance (Learning Together Achievement Through Choice
and Opportunity) Amendment Bill 2006 , Bills Digest, no.
100, Parliamentary Library, 2005 06, pp. 4 5, http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bd/2005-06/06bd100.pdf,
accessed on 8 September 2006; and DEST s IOSP website,
http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/school_education/programmes_funding/general_funding/capital_grants/iios/default.htm,
accessed on 8 September 2006.
- Australia. Budget Strategy and Outlook 2006 07 , Budget
Paper No. 1, p. 6-9, http://www.budget.gov.au/2006-07/bp1/html/bp1_bst6.htm,
accessed on 11 September 2006.
Marilyn Harrington
11 September 2006
Social Policy Section
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Library
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2006
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