The document explains how the My School website will publish financial data for schools in Australia beginning in 2010. It will include each school's operating and capital income for 2009. Operating income covers day-to-day costs like salaries and maintenance, while capital income is for building projects and equipment. The total income from all sources for each school will be divided by student enrollment to calculate an average operating cost per student. Factors like school size, student population characteristics, and additional funding programs can impact the cost per student.

1. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
My School
Financial Data Explained
Sample Primary School
2010

2. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
My School – Financial Information
• On December 3 ACARA will publish on the My School
website the capital and operating income of every school
in Australia
• This will include the financial information for the calendar
year of 2009
• Operating income is for day-to-day expenses like
salaries and maintenance
• Capital income is for building works and the purchasing
of major equipment

3. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
• From 2010, all costs involved
in running a school will be
included on the My School
website. It will be expressed
as a $ value per student
• All sources of income are
added together and this total
(called operating costs) is
divided by the number of
students in the school

4. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
i.e. Total Income from all sources
Total number of students
Example
Demonstration Primary School (enrolment 300 students)
receives:
 $3 million from the State Government
 $0.5 million from the Federal Government
 $0.1 million from parent contributions, canteen, other
charges etc.
= $3.6 m/300 students = $12,000 per student per year

5. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
State
Government
recurrent funding
81%

6. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
Terms Explained

7. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
State Government Recurrent Funding
• It’s funding provided to support NSW Government
schools. It includes:
– Teacher and School Assistant salaries
(usually the largest component - >75% at SAMPLE Primary School)
– building/grounds maintenance
– utilities i.e. electricity, gas, water etc
– school cleaning
– out of school centralised support e.g. curriculum consultants, State
and Regional Office activities etc (school share apportioned by student
enrolments &/or floor area).

8. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
Australian Government Recurrent
Funding
 It’s funding provided to the State Government to support the
education of all students enrolled in public schools as well as
funding for targeted National Partnerships and general recurrent
funding based on student numbers
 Some of this funding is given directly to the schools for:
o Literacy programs
o Numeracy programs
o Low Socio Economic School support
o The rest is used to help fund day-to-day to operating expenses like
salaries and support from regional and central offices

9. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
Fees, charges and
parent contributions
 This figure reflects the contributions
and support received from parents
and the local school community. It
includes all money receipted by the
school, such as:
o Subject fees
o Voluntary contributions
o Excursions
o Hire of Facilities
o Canteen rent/profits
o Other extra-curricular activities etc

10. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
Other Private Sources
 Any income shown under note 6 in your OASIS system
will be counted as “Other Private Sources” for the
purposes My School for example:
o Donations from community organisations
o Funds that the school holds in trust to pass on to another organisation –
and example might be bushfire relief fundraising and 40 Hour Famine

11. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
MY School
capital expenditure

12. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
 Capital expenditure includes funding given to the school
from the Australian Government and the NSW
Government
 This also includes any money that the school has used
from their operating funding for capital projects
 Capital projects include buildings, COLAs, playground
upgrades, school minor works like putting a new roof on
the school, or refurbishing the canteen, or building a
school security fence

13. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au

14. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
 The cost per student shown on the My School website can vary
greatly between schools
 This variance is caused by a number of factors, including:
i. The size of the school – schools with lower student
numbers will have a higher cost per student.
ii. The complexity of the student population (if the school has
a support unit, if the school has an intensive English
centre, if the school is in a remote area).
iii. The special needs of individual students in the school (for
instance a school may have a student with very high
support needs).
iv. If the school is part of a targeted initiatives like SIP, PAS or
one of the National Partnership Programs

15. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
This graph shows the correlation between the size of the school and the cost
per student. Generally as the number of students enrolled in the school rises,
the cost per student will fall
Small schools,
high cost per
student
Large schools,
lower cost per
student

16. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
My School
financial data
explained

17. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au
Example of differences
School A School B
Total Income 2009
(Recurrent Funding)
$336,000 $4,588,800
Number of students enrolled 8 600
Cost per Student $42,000 $7,648
Location Rural;
Remote
Metropolitan
Priority Program (PAS funding – low
SES)
NO NO
Support Class NO YES
Special Purpose Funding e.g. Norta
Norta indigenous program.
NO NO
N.B :- the average cost
per student in a NSW
Government Primary
school is $12,468

18. NSW Department of Education & Training
NSW Public Schools – Leading the Way www.det.nsw.edu.au