Wealthy Exclusive Brethren schools net almost $30m in disadvantage payments
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The Exclusive Brethren’s OneSchool Global network of private schools has received almost $30m in commonwealth payments for educational “disadvantage” over five years despite many being among the country’s wealthiest schools, a Guardian Australia investigation has found.
The Brethren has a history of antipathy towards higher education, with it being described by church leaders in sermons as “very dangerous”, “limiting” and contrary to the Brethren’s morals.This means that despite the relative wealth of the Brethren schools and their community, they meet the relevant criteria for “disadvantage”.
“The government sets the funding model for students, and therefore we are not in a position to answer questions about why students qualify and how much they qualify for. In 2014, just 14% of OneSchool NSW’s students were ranked in the lowest category, with the majority of students in the two middle quartiles, including 30% of students in the second-highest category. This gave the school an Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage ranking of 1,008, which placed them in the 51st percentile – just above average.
The disadvantage loading payment is not adjusted according to the “capacity to contribute” score of the school, which looks at the financial capacity of families to contribute to education costs and which reduces the baseline funding amount paid to each school.
Content retrieved from: https://headtopics.com/au/wealthy-exclusive-brethren-schools-net-almost-30m-in-55566112.
