'Very Frustrating': For Public School Principals, Applying For Grants Is Now A Big Part Of Their Job

(MENAFN- The Conversation) Australians know public schools are underfunded. There are media reports of schools needing to fundraise to build essential infrastructure such as school halls and provide playground shade cloths and textbooks.

This comes alongside other reports of elite private schools building pools and theatres with multimillion-dollar budgets (helped by their tax exemptions and subsidies ) and ongoing concerns about funding disparities between Australian school systems.

In our research , published in the Australian Educational Researcher, we speak to public school principals about a consequence of this lack of funding – a major part of their jobs is now applying for grants to generate revenue for their schools.

In Australia , public schools get about 80% of their funding from their state or territory government. The rest comes from the federal government.

Their“recurrent funding” is calculated through the schooling resource standard , which is an estimate of“how much public funding a school needs to meet its students' educational needs”. This involves a base amount for every student and up to six needs-based loadings, relating to socio-educational disadvantage, location and English language proficiency.

A 2023 analysis indicated 98% of private schools are funded above the schooling resource standard and more than 98% of public schools are funded below it.

Current negotiations between the federal and state/territory governments ahead of a new school reform agreement next year have been billed as a chance to finally“fully fund” schools to 100% of the schooling resource standard. It is now more than a decade since this funding arrangement was introduced by the Gillard government in the so-called Gonski reforms.

Public schools fund capital projects (things such as building maintenance) in a separate process. While this varies across states and territories, in general it requires schools to demonstrate a need to their education department.

Read more: As more money is flagged for WA schools, what does 'fully funded' really mean?

In Australia, researchers have been noting a trend towards more autonomy or flexibility for government school principals about how they manage their budgets.

While this gives principals more discretion about how they spend money according to their school's needs, researchers have noted it has also led to a greater expectation they will generate money for their schools.

This has become a particular issue if schools are not funded adequately by governments . If basic needs not being met, principals need to apply for competitive grants from government to make up shortfalls.

To better understand this situation, we interviewed 18 school principals of schools in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory. This included primary and high schools in advantaged and disadvantaged (high and low socioeconomic) areas and in cities, regional and remote areas.

The interviews were done between July and November 2023.

The competitive funding they are applying for was to pay for basic projects and services, such as functioning toilets, roofing, windows and retaining walls. They also applied for disability support grants and wellbeing projects for their students.

A key theme from our interviews was principals feeling like they are being pulled away from their core duties to generate extra revenue.

Elizabeth*, a primary school principal from a disadvantaged area of Victoria told us, the work requirements around grants meant she was not able to spend as much time in classrooms and talking to students.

As Susan, who leads an advantaged New South Wales high school told us, part of her work is simply about finding more money for her school.

Principals reported applying for grants was time consuming. It is not an easy exercise – winning grant money is highly competitive and can often require a lot of additional work and different types of expertise.

As Tom, a high school principal from a disadvantaged area of Queensland told us:

Tom explained differing requirements could include“soil reports, insurance advice, flood mitigation expertise, project management and legal expertise”.

But despite all these demands, principals said they felt they had little choice about seeking extra funds.

Mark, a primary principal in an advantaged area of Victoria, noted his school had a retaining wall that needed A$100,000 worth of work, but the education department only allocated $4,000 for it. He expressed frustration he had to go through competitive funding applications year after year – competing with other public schools in his state – for what many would consider a fundamental project.

This is why principals felt it was essential to be doing this extra paperwork. As Jason, a primary school principal in an advantaged area of Victoria told us,“we are still underfunded”.

Our study represents a small sample, considering there were approximately 6,700 public schools in Australia during our research. It would would be useful for further research to continue to examine the need for public schools to compete for funding for essential works.

But we argue our research is more evidence competitive grant writing is critically reshaping the principal's role as a school leader – and not in positive ways.

*Names have been changed.

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