Are independent schools really just for rich kids?

In the opening pages of her slim new book, public school advocate and fiction writer Jane Caro asserts that Australian governments have, for years, been "pumping money into private education while public schools struggle".

Caro further asserts that whatever money the government gives to public schools it is not enough, and whatever is given to private schools is obviously too much.

The fact that the majority of non-government schools in Australia are faith-based (often chosen because the parents want their children to have a faith-based education) is condemned on two counts: Caro says it undermines the principle of "free, secular and public" education and seeks to "entrench the power and privilege of the church".

If religion is important to parents, says the author, they should send their kids to Sunday school or its equivalent.

Caro sets the tone of her monograph with the title, Rich Kid, Poor Kid. She takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of education funding in Australia, crisscrossing many topics including funding history, funding models, principles, performance trends, and pandemic policies. All this is sprinkled with the author's personal experiences: "When I went to school nobody talked about school choice".

Well, many did then, and many more do now, as increasing enrolments in private schools clearly show.

The important question is, of course, why? Why do so many Australian parents choose private schools?

Is it, as Caro suggests, because of the existing funding system which, in her view, has resulted in "crumbling classrooms", and declining educational performance?

The reader may find that many other explanations skirted over, and the history simplified, with key constitutional funding arrangements not explained. Funding arrangements in Australia are extremely complex, and it would have been useful for Caro, I'm sure, to see the numbers broken down.

Instead, we get unnecessary digressions into peripheral issues, like the performance of Scott Morrison as prime minister during the pandemic, and John Howard's concerns about Anzac Day.

Needed at the beginning of this book was an overview of the Australian school system in terms of enrolments. I can help with that: in 2024, 63.4 per cent of Australian students attended public schools and 36.6 per cent were enrolled in non-government sector (18.6 per cent at Catholic schools and 18 per cent at independent schools).

Readers need these figures to better assess the author's arguments.