Funding

Funding Categories    |    Grants    |    EduAccess

Funding is critical to the success of education institutions Australia-wide. As a result, students attending both private and public schools (and their teachers) should be afforded equal access to educational resources — and funding is the key.

Federal Funding Focus

01

Funding Distribution

The 2025-26 Budget includes an estimated $135.7 billion over 2025–26 to 2028–29 in recurrent school funding. In 2025, recurrent funding for schools is estimated to total $31.1 billion. This includes $12 billion to government schools, $10.4 billion to Catholic schools and $8.7 billion to independent schools.

This funding is paid to states and territories, then distributed to approved authorities, and then administered directly to schools. State and territory governments provide most of the public recurrent funding for government schools, whereas the Australian Government provides most of the public recurrent funding for non‑government schools.

03

Closing The Funding Gap

Until now, the Commonwealth has only contributed 20 percent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) for public schools, while non-government schools receive 80 percent. The new Better and Fairer Schools Agreement (BFSA), will raise the Commonwealth's contribution, setting a minimum funding floor of 20 percent for public schools from January 2025, with a target of 40 percent for the Northern Territory by 2029.

The bill aims to close the funding gap, provide $16 billion in additional investment, and ensure funding is tied to reforms that help students catch up, stay engaged, and finish school.

02

Disparity

However, a 2023 independent report by Adam Rorris, which studied how current school funding agreements can deliver on the needs of all Australian school students by looking at financial projections until 2028, found a disparity in funding between government and private schools.

Mr Rorris found for the 2023–28 period, “private schools begin from a position of major overfunding against their minimum SRS (Schooling Resource Standard) levels in 2023 (overfunded by $800 million). By 2028 they are still in a position of overfunding ($140 million above SRS levels). For public schools, the "official" SRS funding gap moves little from a shortfall of $4.5 billion a year in 2023 to $3.7 billion a year in 2028.”

04

Priorities

The BFSA is built on recommendations from various reviews and is developed with input from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, as well as non-government education groups. It also aligns with Australia's commitment to Closing the Gap.

Now, all of the eight States and Territories have signed the BFSA Heads of Agreement.

The two most recent states to sign on were New South Wales and Queensland, with NSW receiving an additional $4.8 billion of funding and QLD receiving an extra $2.8 billion.

EduAccess

If your school is looking to reach its full potential, we recommend subscribing to our online portal, EduAccess, which provides the latest up-to-date funding information, grants, and giveaways for the sector.

putting money coins saving in glass bottle for concept investment mutual fund finance and business, placed on the textbook. content money saving for education.

Grants

The 2025-26 Budget includes an estimated $135.7 billion over 2025–26 to 2028–29 in recurrent school funding. In 2025, recurrent funding for schools is estimated to total $31.1 billion. This includes $12.0 billion to government schools, $10.4 billion to Catholic schools and $8.7 billion to independent schools.

This funding is paid to states and territories, then distributed to approved authorities, and then administered directly to schools. State and territory governments provide most of the public recurrent funding for government schools, whereas the Australian Government provides most of the public recurrent funding for non‑government schools.

EduAccess_Categories

Our team conducted an in-depth review of budget reports, websites, and databases to carefully curate this information for your school. The content is organised by topic to align with the categories featured in our biannual resource guide.