That is despite these schools being overfunded already, receiving up to 192 per cent of their fair share from Canberra when the target for private schools is 80 per cent (with 20 per cent from the states). The president of the Australian Education Union, Correna Haythorpe, branded the pot of money a “slush fund” and accused Education Minister Simon Birmingham of striking a secret “special deal” to prop up already-wealthy private schools. Documents obtained by the union under freedom of information laws reveal 64 of the 102 schools to receive additional funding in 2018 are in NSW, including the elite eastern suburbs schools of Ascham, Kambala and Kincoppal Rose Bay. Victorian schools include the overfunded Melbourne Grammar, Haileybury College and Melbourne Girls’ Grammar. Although the Department of Education provided the names of schools receiving money from the fund in 2018, it would not say how much extra each school received. In answer to an FOI request, the department claimed it “does not currently have this information”. In total, private schools will enjoy $47.4 million in additional federal payments in 2018. Of that, $7.1 million will flow directly to selected independent schools ($5.9 million in NSW) plus an extra $36.7 million for Catholic schools and $3.6 million for systemic independent schools.

A table released by the Education Department showing additional funding for 2018. Senator Birmingham has said the $7.1 million in extra assistance was agreed during negotiations with the school sectors over the Gonski 2.0 legislation and helps schools whose normal funding growth is less than 3 per cent in 2018. The Education Department has described them as "low indexation schools". Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen A handful of the schools - including Loreto, St Aloysius' and Monte Sant' Angelo - are among the 24 schools the government said would have actual reductions to their funding in 2018. But the additional assistance makes it unclear whether their total federal funding will actually fall. The FOI documents show Loreto Kirribilli - one of the country's most over-funded schools - will receive $6.6 million in Commonwealth recurrent funding in 2018, or 191.9 per cent of its fair share, plus its top-up payment. St Aloysius' and Monte Sant' Angelo will both receive more than $6.15 million, plus top-up funds.

Ms Haythorpe blasted the "special deal" for private schools, referring to Senator Birmingham's oft-repeated declaration that Gonski 2.0 would remove the special deals put in place by Labor. “It’s ironic that Simon Birmingham talks about not having special deals in place but at the same time he negotiated a range of special deals that have seriously advantaged the independent sector,” she told Fairfax Media. “The reality is that having a slush fund which advantages the private sector is quite offensive given the great need for the public sector – the vast majority of our schools – 87 per cent of which will not reach the benchmark for funding by 2023.” While the 2018 payments are a one-off, from 2019 to 2027 the $40 million National Adjustment Assistance Fund will be used to boost payments to private schools which have "low and negative growth" in funding under Gonski 2.0. The guidelines explain some schools "may find it unreasonably hard to adjust to the change" and estimate that 30 non-systemic independent schools will be deemed eligible for the fund.