Catholic archdiocese assures no major school fees hike in 2018

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets students from several Sydney high schools during his visit aboard a replica of Captain Cook's ship 'Endeavour' at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, August 11, 2014. Reuters/Jason Reed

One of Australia’s largest Catholic archdioceses has denied that school funding changes recently announced by the Turnbull government will require Catholic schools to severely hike their fees by $5,000 annually. The Archdiocese of Brisbane sent a letter to parents last week to guarantee them that fees in 2018 would be the same as this year.

Pam Betts, executive director of Brisbane Catholic Education, said she would like to assure parents that despite what they heard in the media, there will be no major increase in school fees in their Brisbane Catholic Education schools for 2018. "I can assure that next year's fees will be similar to this year's, with a projected increase of somewhere around the 3 per cent mark, in line with the increase in our operating costs,” Betts wrote.

In the letter, the archdiocese, which oversees 139 schools, also expressed gratitude to the government for its "commitment to fair and equitable funding.” Archdiocese of Brisbane’s stance was a break from other Catholic sector authorities that warned they would need to increase fees under the new funding model.

Fees at 'normal levels'

With the recently announced model, financial backing for Catholic schools in the New South Wales and Victoria would be at a similar level to Queensland. Dan White, executive director of Sydney Catholic Schools, said fee increases at the 149 schools in the Sydney Archdiocese would stay at "normal levels" in 2018.

White also wrote a letter to parents this month to assure them there will be no increase in school fees apart from the normal annual increases next year. He added they are going to do everything in their ability to reduce the potential increase in school fees in the long-term. However, he warned of "significant" fees increases in the future for parents whose kids were enrolled in Catholic schools in mid-to-high income Sydney suburbs.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham told ABC radio on Tuesday that he and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull have maintained talks with Catholic authorities since the proposal has been announced. The authorities were allowed to keep their privilege to allocate the funding across their schools as they saw fit.

But Opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek argued the government's interpretation of the Gonski panel's recommendations is neither sector-blind nor needs-based. She said it would be impossible for school systems to support it when some of the neediest schools will be worse off, news.com.au reports.

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