It now costs more than $2000 a year to put a primary school student through the public system, according to the Smith Family.
“Before your child even walks in the front gate, the average parent is looking at spending more than $700 on uniforms, shoes and stationery, ” the Smith Family’s Victorian general manager, Anton Leschen, said last week.
“And that’s a conservative estimate based on the least expensive purchases at nationally accessible chain stores.
“But once in the gate, and depending on whether your child goes to primary or high school, parents encounter a new raft of expenses.
“The truth is that the cost of attending school is getting beyond many disadvantaged families.”
Mr Leschen said the welfare agency worked with a number of schools in Melbourne’s north, where there were many disadvantaged and low-income families.
“But even with schools offering support to disadvantaged families through discretionary funds – limited pools of financial assistance to help offset costs – we estimate most families will need to spend upwards of $2000 annually for their child to receive a comprehensive public school education,” Mr Leschen said. “And that’s just for one child.”
What’s more, he said, any discretionary funds available at schools in disadvantaged areas were soon used up.
“The stories we hear from our frontline team about how people try to cope – or can’t – can be heartbreaking,” Mr Leschen said.
“They tell us of encountering parents contemplating personal loans and taking out new credit cards to try to manage costs.”
He said struggling families often could not afford the “voluntary” annual contribution asked by their children’s schools, which also had ramifications on their child’s education.
“As you would expect, public schools in well-off areas receive the vast majority of their voluntary contributions and charges,” Mr Leschen said.
“Public schools in well-off areas can receive as much as 15 per cent of their annual income from parental contributions, while for schools in disadvantaged communities the figure can be as low as 2 per cent.
“This has a direct impact on what the school can offer in terms of courses or extra-curricular activities.”
Mr Leschen said there had never been any comprehensive study to quantify and identify the costs of public education in Australia and the impact of rising costs on families.
And he said the Smith Family had called for research to help governments, departments and community organisations deliver more targeted support.
“We’re hopeful that needs-based funding, which now has the support of federal, state and territory governments, will make a difference for families attending schools in disadvantaged areas,” he said.
