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Swimming pools, recreation centres: WA’s top-spending private schools revealed We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later. 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SAVE ARTICLES FOR LATER Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size Advertisement Private schools across Western Australia are spending millions of taxpayer dollars on capital works including new buildings and swimming pools while public schools are squeezing more students into demountables, according to the state’s education union. While just five Perth schools spent more than $45 million between them in 2022 on upgrades, infrastructure in public schools has been “steadily deteriorating” according to analysis of Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority data. The Australian Education Union’s analysis revealed capital investment in WA public schools on a per-student basis was just two-thirds the amount invested in private schools over the last decade. The additional investment required to match private school per student funding between 2012 and 2021 was estimated to be over $2 billion. State School Teachers’ Union WA president Matt Jarman said many people would be surprised at the amount of money governments poured into private schools. “It is sad that private schools are using taxpayer dollars to build swimming pools and expensive recreation facilities while public schools are squeezing more students into demountables,” he said. “We need to see far more capital investment to ensure our public school students get the facilities they deserve like quality classrooms, libraries and learning spaces.” Jarman, alongside state education ministers, is calling on the Commonwealth to extend a one-off public school upgrades fund, which will expire on Thursday. The Commonwealth already has a decade-long non‐government schools capital grants program, which has provided $1.25 billion to private schools since 2017. Advertisement While the program guidelines stated it was aimed at educationally disadvantaged students, the Union’s analysis found the program had provided at least $42 million to schools in the top 15 per cent of socio-economic status nationally. “While private schools will get almost $1 billion nationally in capital funding over the next four years, WA schools will fall far short of that unless the federal government extends its one-year school upgrade fund,” Jarman said. He said capital expenditure funding was also separate from the recent School Resourcing Standard funding agreement between the WA and federal government, which promised an additional $1.6 billion investment in public schools. Australian Education Union president Correna Haythorpe said public school students deserved to have equal government funding for upgrades. “We need a greater investment in new and upgraded public schools in WA and the prime minister needs to lead the way on this,” she said. “Unless he takes action, WA public schools will get no capital funding from the federal government next year while private schools will get tens of millions extra.” Principals Federation of WA president Bevan Ripp said even when funds were spent on public schools, it was not equitable. “A glaring example of this disparity is the recent announcement of a multi-million-dollar build at Willetton Senior High School, while primary schools like Highgate and Inglewood don’t even have proper toilet blocks or classroom space,” he said. “They are horribly overcrowded and this is impacting attrition rates, it just should not be happening in our society.” He said the whole capital works funding system needed to change, and that currently it only lent itself to short-term planning which was counterintuitive to creating and maintaining quality public education spaces. John XXIII in Mount Claremont spent $17.5 million on capital works in 2022 – double the amount of any other school in the state. Principal Daniel Mahon wrote on the Catholic Schools Guide website that recent capital works, including “world-class learning spaces like our innovative new library”, were part of continuous improvements to the school. “As always, our focus is providing the best possible environment for our students to thrive,” he said. Scotch College spent also almost $82 million on capital expenditure between 2012 and 2021 – one of the highest-spending schools nationally in the same time-frame. But WA private schools still spend far less than their eastern states counterparts, where one school alone spent more than $63 million in just one year – eclipsing the total public school capital expenditure of Tasmania and the Northern Territory combined. READ MORE The Perth private school paying women 200 per cent more than men ‘Had some drama with him’: Perth man shot in face over $3000 drug debt The suburbs tipped to outperform Perth’s property market in 2024 Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter. Save Log in, register or subscribe to save articles for later. License this article * Education * Private schools * Perth * Schools * School funding * High school Holly Thompson is a journalist with WAtoday, specialising in education.Connect via Twitter or email. 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