Aurukun school inadvertently received up to $815k in overpayments

Updated

The Indigenous Aurukun primary school run in partnership with Noel Pearson's Good to Great Schools organisation routinely overstated enrolments because there was a misunderstanding of policy, netting up to $815,000 in extra payments, a report has found.

Acting auditor-general Anthony Close said staff at the school did not deliberately inflate student numbers, but had poor record keeping and misinterpreted policy.

The report also said there was no deliberate mismanagement at the school and "no evidence of financial impropriety" in its public funding.

Mr Close also said the Education Department gave poor financial stewardship in its partnership with Mr Pearson's Good to Great Schools Australia (GGSA).

Aboriginal leader Mr Pearson feels vindicated by the report, but said the process had hit his and the Cape York Academy's reputation.

The review was requested by the Education director-general last year after an internal audit found a number of high-risk business practices.

Furthermore, the school was shut twice last year within several weeks after a series of violent incidents forced 20 teachers to be evacuated.

The audit office report made three recommendations.

They include more binding agreements in place between private operators and the state, greater training for staff, and a review to make sure internal audit recommendations are implemented.

Enrolments 'overstated by 116'

The independent review found student effective enrolment numbers from 2010-16 were over-reported by 116, but there was no evidence of deliberate manipulation.

It resulted in the Government providing $815,000 in base funding to the school that it may not have been entitled to.

Mr Close explained the mistake was driven by school staff's incorrect interpretation of the Education Department's enrolment policy and guidelines, and poor record-keeping.

"Aurukun school staff who processed student enrolments did not confirm the identity, custody, and age of children," he said.

Permanent agreement never struck

The arrangement between the Government and GGSA has operated since 2009, when a temporary Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed.

That memorandum stated a permanent binding agreement would be reached by January 2010, but none was ever signed.

Mr Close also said high staff turnover and loss of institutional memory was to blame for many high-risk issues remaining unresolved.

"The MoU did not contain essential elements to allow DET to successfully manage a long-term partnership," Mr Close wrote.

Report 'puts to rest all slurs' against school

Mr Pearson welcomed the report, saying it gave "important confirmation that GGSA played no role or had responsibility in these matters".

"[The auditor-general] has given a clean bill of health to the financial and administrative practices of Good to Great Schools Australia's role with the [academy]," Mr Pearson said in a statement.

"GGSA places on record our dismay and concern at the curious release of sections of those previous reports to media, which damaged GGSA's reputation and jeopardised our students' education.

"Those within the department responsible for the leaking should be exposed and held to account."

In November, Mr Pearson withdrew his organisation's involvement with the school, saying he was unable to negotiate a partnership model with the Government.

His organisation is still involved with schools at Hope Vale and Coen.

Education Minister Kate Jones said the Department would implement Mr Close's recommendations.

Topics: education, access-to-education, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, community-and-society, aboriginal, activism-and-lobbying, schools, public-sector, aurukun-4871, qld, cairns-4870, townsville-4810, brisbane-4000

First posted