Calls for special deal to be struck for NT, which has biggest funding gap between public and private schools
Will you sacrifice the quality of your kids education for the greater good?
History, cause we have seen all this before, says you won’t.
Your question implies that I wouldn’t believe they could get a good enough education at a public school (which frankly says more about you.) If I were to have another child and needed to send them to school, I would absolutely send them to a public school, even if I could afford the “best” private schools.
So while I reject your assertion that it’s as cut and dried as ‘private school=better,’ the answer is yes. I would.
I am not saying that private is always better, but the catchment rules for public mean that your kids might be going to a relatively bad public school just purely due to demographics.
History says that educationally minded parents are unwilling to send their kids to such a school…which further entrenches that schools low performance.
You might be willing to do so, but the aggregate are not.
It’s why this situation is politically fraught: short voting incentives prevent politicians from fixing it as it costs them their voters.
What’s the link you’re trying to draw between public/private school funding and catchment areas?
It’s a…weakness in schools drawing from a geographic area.
A school is not just the facilities and the teachers. It’s also the student body, and going to school with kids who care about education is better for education outcomes than a school with people who don’t.
This is why private/selective schools get such outsized results, they pick and choose the “best” students and let the wealthy leach buy their way in.
The effect is that the public schools don’t have this “cream” or the money.
If you want good outcomes. You functionally need to outlaw private schools.
Your question implies that I wouldn’t believe they could get a good enough education at a public school (which frankly says more about you.)
Yeah - I think that’s the key difference between you and most people (like me) who prefer private schools.
I know my local public school. It has a bad reputation among all my friends (many of them are teachers, some have taught at that school). The NAPLAN results show the student education levels are “Well Below” the Australian Standard level. The data over the years show it’s falling behind as well - worse every year than the year before.
The local private school, on the other hand, scores “Well Above” on NAPLAN. And the tuition fee is only $10 per day.
I would love to not pay $10 per day. And I’m also not particularly keen on the religious shit they’ll expose my kid to. But realistically the only two options I’m willing to consider are the private school, or selling my home and buying somewhere else with a better public school. Not keen on moving to be honest.
I’m confused. What does this have to do with funding? Are you saying private schools should have the same amount of funding so it’s cheaper for you to send your kid to private school?
Go back a couple replies in the thread - that’s what I was referring to with the funding stuff.
I categorically reject the implication that this is a funding issue. It’s a quality of education issue and that is largely not impacted by funding.
In fact - I’m pretty sure the funding between a public and typical independent private school is relatively similar. Private schools receive less funding than public schools, and often the difference is pretty close to the tuition fee. Ending up with about the same level of funding per student either way. But even where there is a big gap (e.g. private schools where the tuition fee is higher than my entire salary as a parent) I suspect it doesn’t actually result in better student outcomes than if the school had more reasonable funding.
