The Australian Greens' claim that there is no line of sight on how non- government schools spend government funding is a gross misrepresentation of the facts says National Catholic education acting executive director Sally Egan.
"As made clear by the Department of Education in Senate Estimates today, Catholic and other non - government schools are required to provide annual reporting to Federal and State government s.
acquitting the total funding received according to requirements under legislation," Ms Egan said.
"Annual reporting is just one of the rigorous detailed school and system level educational and financial reports non-government schools must provide.
"Greens ' Senator Penny Allman- Payne seems to have disregarded the advice of the Department of Education assuring the Senator non- government schools are required by the legislation to distribute funding on a needs -based model," said Ms Egan.
" As confirmed by the Department in E stimates, local jurisdictions, including public education authorities.
make their distribution models publicly available and are best -placed to determine need for their school communities.
"The majority of Catholic schools are low -fee systemic schools. Ju dging the whole non-government sector by a handful of untested examples is divisive and unhelpful to the work of lifting the educational outcomes of all students in all schools.
" We would welcome the opportunity to meet with the new Greens Senator to clarify a more accurate picture of Catholic schools," Ms Egan said.
NCEC is the peak body for Catholic Education in Australia and is responsible for the national coordination and representation of Catholic schools and education authorities.
There are 1,755 Catholic schools educating over 785,000 or one in five Australian students and employing over 102,000 staff.
