Private schools in South Australia will be overfunded by nearly $80 million over the next four years while public schools will be underfunded by $1.8 billion over the same period, a new report from the Australian Education Union outlines.

The AEU report – ‘A Decade of Inequity’ – found that Australian school funding was disparate between private and public schools, especially in South Australia where nearly half of private schools receive more combined government funding per student than public schools of similar sizes, locations and student needs.

The report found in 2013 there were 32 private schools in SA that received more combined Commonwealth and state government funding than comparable public schools

By 2022, the AEU found this had almost tripled to 94 private schools – an increase from 18 per cent of private schools receiving more funding than comparable public schools in 2013 to 48.2 per cent over the decade.

The AEU said its report employed a strict methodology, with five conditions to be met for schools to be considered “comparable”. This meant only schools of the same type, with similar student parental and household characteristics, of similar size and in the same jurisdiction were compared.

When considering schools in the same ICESA group, the report found Christian Brothers College in Adelaide was the private school “in receipt of the highest combined government funding”.

The CBD private boys school received $15,900 per student in funding in 2022 – more than five comparable public secondary schools that on average received $15,340 per student from government sources.

Nationally, the report found in 2013 there were 1146 private schools (45 per cent of all private schools) receiving more government funding per student than comparable public schools, which increased to 1550 private schools (56.3 per cent of all private schools) by 2022.

Further, the AEU said private schools across the country will be “overfunded” by $2.1 billion between 2024 and 2028, whilst public schools will be underfunded by $31.7 billion over the same time frame.

The report comes more than a decade after the landmark Gonski Review considered school funding in Australia and found “the cost of this inequality is high; both for individuals who are failing to reach their potential and for the nation as a whole”.

AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said the “shock findings” underscored an “urgent need” for increased public school funding.

“Some private schools in South Australia are receiving up to $2951 per student more in government funding than similar public schools with very similar student profiles, in some cases those schools are just around the corner from each other,” Haythrope said.

“This unfair private school funding advantage translates into a school resourcing and staffing advantage and has fuelled a private school capital works boom, while at the same time denying public schools the recurrent funding needed to attract and retain teachers to address the high level of student needs in the classroom.”

AEU SA president Jennie-Marie Gorman called on the South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas to “fight hard for South Australia’s public school students in these negotiations”.

“Right now, school funding for the next decade is being negotiated between the Commonwealth and the South Australian government,” Gorman said.

“Public schools in South Australia educate proportionately twice the number of students from low socio-educational advantage backgrounds compared to private schools, and 3.5 times the number of First Nations students. Currently, our schools are not getting the funding they need to meet students’ needs.

“The challenges are too great and the cost of inaction too high for governments to continue to fail on funding.”

In a statement, South Australian education minister Blair Boyer said he was advocating for further public school funding from the Commonwealth.

“We know there has been inequity in funding for schools for too long – now is our chance to change that,” Boyer said.

“That’s why I have been standing with my state and territory colleagues for months, advocating for further public school funding from the Commonwealth.”

He said the state government funded 75 per cent of public schools, while the Federal Government supported 20 per cent.

“It’s not unreasonable to ask for the Commonwealth to fund the final five per cent. Particularly given a school infrastructure fund the Federal Government used to support, was axed under the former Turnbull liberal government.

“In South Australia, the five per cent is worth as much as $190 million of extra funding for public schools every single year. That would go directly into school supports so that teachers have the time, resources and support to help students achieve the best academic outcomes.”