Independent schools in Queensland, such as Hills International College in Jimboomba, will benefit from the federal budget announced this week.
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The budget papers showed the government would invest an extra $1.2 billion from 2018 to 2020 in schools which stands to lift the recurrent funding to $20.1 billion in 2020.
Hills International College principal Kevin Lynch said it was great to see recognition from the government about investing in future leaders.
“We are delighted to see an increase,” he said.
“The government needed to put money into areas where it was needed such as education and health.
“This shows that (Australia) can improve their standing internationally.”
Mr Lynch said that if independent schools did not receive funding by state and federal governments school fees would be astronomical and there would be no way to improve school facilities.
“If enough money came our way (from the increase in the budget) we would look into securing physical resources such as sporting facilities closer to campus or a covered area for students to gather and perform,” he said.
Independent Schools Queensland Executive Director David Robertson welcomed the Australian Government’s commitment to restoring an education sector specific funding index.
“This is a welcome move away from the 2015/16 Budget position which had indexed school funding by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 2.5 percent,” he said.
Mr Robertson said the Australian Government had made its new $1.2 billion funding commitment contingent on state and territory governments and non-government schools meeting a range of reforms in the areas of teaching and learning.
“These reforms will require further consideration and discussion between the Australian Government, state and territory governments and non-government schools and their representative bodies,” he said.
The budget papers also revealed that an additional $118.2 million would be allocated to provide targeted support for students with disability over two years from 2016-17.
Queensland independent schools have reported increases in enrollments of students with disabilities by an annual growth rate of 12.8 per cent over the past ten years.
Mr Lynch said an expenditure increase in human resources would benefit Hills students with learning difficulties and disabilities.
