The exclusive schools high-earning parents are sending their children to

3 months ago 24

Victorian parents earning top dollar are sending their children to some of the most expensive schools in the state, data shows.

But some smaller schools also made the list.

Families with a median income of $344,000 are sending their children to Mount Scopus Memorial College in Burwood, figures from the Department of Education show.

The family income is the income of both parents, rather than just individual income.

The leading Jewish school is among those with one of the highest fees – $43,130 for year 12 – plus yearly compulsory levies including $1550 to cover payroll tax.

Christ Church Grammar School in South Yarra, operating from prep to year 6, and Melbourne Grammar School parents were both earning $336,000 on average.

Others with parents in the top-earning bracket included Catholic school Loreto, Mandeville Hall in Toorak, Scotch College in Hawthorn, and Anglican school Melbourne Girls’ Grammar in South Yarra.

Smaller schools including St Michael’s Grammar in St Kilda were also among the list. The independent school’s fees come to nearly $41,000 for year 12.

Principal at St Michael’s, Gerard Houlihan, said parents at the school reflect Melbourne’s evolving professional and cultural life.

“Many are dual-income households, often with parents in executive or leadership roles across business, government, and the not-for-profit sector,” he said.

St Michael’s principal Gerard Houlihan with students Chloe Theuma, Nicholas Parker, Harry Guttman and Raphaela Papas.

“In today’s economic climate, many families are making significant sacrifices to prioritise education, sometimes with support from extended family, including grandparents.”

It also has families who are secular, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and others. The school being co-educational was also a point of difference for families.

The principal said it received less in recurrent government funding than it paid in payroll tax, but continued to add to its scholarship programs, which expanded equity, diversity and access.

“Parents of girls appreciate the legacy and leadership focus, while parents of boys value the emphasis on empathy and respectful engagement,” Houlihan said.

Leading education economist Adam Rorris said there was no reason for some of the wealthiest schools in the country to be receiving millions in taxpayer money.

He pointed out that those sending their children to expensive private schools received a tax benefit because there was no GST on top of those payments.

“[It] means their children enjoy extremely privileged, well-resourced schools that other children do not.”

Gerard Houlihan said many families were willing to make sacrifices to ensure their children got a top education.

While federal and state governments continued to over-resource wealthy private schools, public schools on the whole received well below the minimum funding required to deliver basic literacy and numeracy, Rorris added.

“Governments need to be committed in practice to equity in principle and not just as a matter of public convenience,” the economist said.

“There’s absolutely nothing equitable in over-funding the schools that have the most privileged students, while government is simultaneously claiming it does not have the money to provide minimum resourcing to schools that have some of the most underprivileged students within their catchment.”

Rorris said eliminating the “outrageous payments” from the federal government would reduce their enrolments, or impact on their services.

“What it will mean is that millions of dollars will be available to public schools that will actually use that money and will spend that money year-to-year to deliver minimum services their students require,” he said.

Last year this masthead revealed Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC), which charges annual year 12 fees of $38,000, spent $85 million on a swimming and sports complex.

The high-fee school in Burwood gets thousands of dollars more in federal money per student each year than many of Victoria’s top private schools under the Commonwealth’s complex funding formula.

But after a review into the school’s Commonwealth funding it has been cleared to receive three times as much cash as comparable, high-fee schools.

Lobby group Independent Schools Victoria argues funding follows the student, rather than the school and every pupil was entitled to some government support.

Chief executive Rachel Holthouse said higher-fee independent schools receive almost no capital funding from government and less per student compared to public schools.

They receive around $4000 per student compared to $24,000 per student in public schools, Holthouse said.

“Every classroom, library and facility in independent schools is paid for by parents and donors,” she said.

“Independent schooling is the fastest-growing category of education in Victoria, so with their importance – and proven performance – the sector should be celebrated, not taxed and penalised.”

She argued low to middle-income families who chose to send their children to independent schools would be hit hard if GST was applied to school fees, and many charged less than $6000 per year in fees.

Holthouse pointed to the UK, which introduced taxes on school fees, which she said led to teacher layoffs, school closures and added to the overburdened public system.

Meanwhile, the Victorian Catholic Education Authority said out of 494 Catholic schools in the state, only two had parents earning some of the top salaries in the state.

“This data simply confirms that families who live in Toorak and Hawthorn have higher than average incomes and some choose to send their children to nearby non-government schools,” chief executive Elizabeth Labone said.

Mount Scopus Memorial College in Burwood.

She also said adding GST to school fees would deprive families of choice, without improving government finances.

“If every child in Victoria moves from a non-government school to a government school [it] would cost taxpayers an extra $9500 per annum,” Labone said.

The federal education department said in a statement that it makes deals with state and territory governments to put public school systems on track to “full and fair funding” at 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard.

“These agreements will deliver an estimated $16.5 billion in additional Commonwealth funding for public schools over the next 10 financial years,” they said.

“But it is not a blank cheque. Funding will be tied to reforms that will improve education standards and better support students.”

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