Tom Nightingale reported this story on Saturday, September 8, 2012 08:07:00

ELIZABETH JACKSON: The New South Wales Government is considering a significant cut to education funding which could see private school fees rise by up to 10 per cent.



The independent and Catholic school sector says the New South Wales Government wants to cut nearly $70 million a year from its funding allocation.



They say the cuts would also affect public schools, but the independent and Catholic schools say they're far less able to withstand such a cut.



Tom Nightingale reports.



TOM NIGHTINGALE: State and Federal Governments have begun talks over a massive education shake-up which is meant to increase overall school funding. But in New South Wales, Catholic and independent schools are furious over funding cuts.



They're worried about State Government plans to cut up to $67 million from private schools.



Dr John Collier is the chair of the state's branch of the Association of Independent Schools.



JOHN COLLIER: The kind of cuts we're looking at would require a fee increase of around an additional 10 per cent on top of the kind of education cost increase of around 5 per cent that would be ordinary anyway.



And that would be crushing for many of our parents, some of whom would not be able to pay.



TOM NIGHTINGALE: Dr Collier also heads the Saint Andrews Cathedral School in Sydney.



He says the proposed cuts would result in fee hikes that would force some students to leave for a public school.



JOHN COLLIER: Some schools would certainly have to cut programs. Some would find that even though they might attempt to put fees up to the necessary extent to cover the loss of government funding, that the parents simply couldn't sustain those kinds of fee increases.



TOM NIGHTINGALE: Dr Collier says the proposal would work against any push to increase education standards.



JOHN COLLIER: It absolutely flies in face of Gonski at federal level. On the one hand we have a Federal Government saying that schools will receive more money as a way of driving towards top five international quality for Australian education. On the other hand there's a state government attempting to take money away. And so the two levels of government, federal and state, appear to be working in contradiction of one another.



TOM NIGHTINGALE: A wage freeze already applies to staff at Catholic systemic schools.



The state Independent Schools Union says non-government schools are far less able to deal with funding cuts, compared with the public education sector.



Dr Dan White is the executive director of the Catholic Education Office in Sydney



DAN WHITE: In an era where we're talking about working collaboratively with the Federal Government to boost funding and lift educational performance in Australia, this is a very cynical move to cut funds out of the budget ahead of discussions about the baseline funding under the Gonski recommendations.



I believe the Federal Education Minister needs to take a firm stand with the O'Farrell government and indicate that the reduction in funding from non-government schools should not be discounted in any negotiations that they're undertaking.



TOM NIGHTINGALE: The independent schools' sector says the proposed cuts would also affect public schools. The State Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli, has reportedly said the cuts will be departmental and not affect teacher numbers or school services.



He wasn't available for an interview.



But his office told Saturday AM no decision has been made about how education savings will be made.



ELIZABETH JACKSON: Tom Nightingale with that report.