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Public funding of private education is unconscionable

The parents of students attending private schools pay taxes. So, why should their children be denied a share of the education dollar?

Yet, every dollar provided to a private school is a dollar not available to invest in public schools – centres of education for the majority of Australian students.

By comparison with many private schools, the facilities available to students at state schools are meagre.

Where should we invest public funds – and according to what set of principles might we decide without prompting envy and division?

Discuss this topic

Speakers

For:

• Ms Lyndsay Connors is an Honorary Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and a Fellow of the Centre for Policy Development.  She was admitted to the rank of Fellow of the Australian College of Education in 1990 and, in 2001, was awarded Its Annual Medal.  In 1999, she received the Australian Council of Deans of Education award for outstanding service to education.  In 2006, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to education as a contributor to the development of education policy at state and national levels.  In the course of her entire career, Lindsay has been a forthright advocate for public schooling and for the equal entitlement of all Australians to high quality education, free from barriers arising from their social background or sex.  She has published a variety of reports and articles, jointly and individually, on schooling and on the teaching profession.

  Tim Matthews is the Vice Captain of Caringbah High School. Tim has a long association with the NSW Performing Arts Unit of the Department of Education and Training in Debating, Public Speaking and Drama. Last year, he was a member of the winning team in the Premier’s Debating Championship for year 11, and hopes to defend the title this year. In 2008, Tim was also a member of the State Champion Combined High Schools Debating Team. Tim was the 2007 national winner of the AussieSpeak Public Speaking Competition and is this year a state finalist in the prestigious Sydney Morning Herald Plain English Speaking Award. He has been a member of the NSW Senior Drama Company for several years, and completed his Drama HSC Examination last year, coming third in the state and performing in the ‘OnStage’ showcase of HSC Drama Works. Next Month, Tim is a member of the NSW Delegation to the National United Nations Youth Council. In 2010, Tim hopes to study a Bachelor of International and Global Studies to further his interest in Foreign Affairs and Debating.

  Jane Caro  is a parent, activist, teacher and author.  Jane has won numerous awards for her creative work as a copywriter who has contributed to the success of some of Australia's leading agencies over a period of 28 years.  Jane is the co-author of two books Including, with Chris Bonnor, of The Stupid Country; How Australia is Dismantling Public education and is a board member of the NSW Public Education Foundation.  jane was wholly educated in NSW comprehensive public schools, as is her daughter.  Her husband (poor lamb) went to exclusive private schools and bitterly regrets it.

Against:

• Jennifer Buckingham works at one of Australia’s leading think-tanks, the Centre for Independent Studies, where she has used statistical data to expose a number of points of ‘conventional wisdom’ about the education system.  This work has included an interest in the difference between mainstream perceptions of the way schools are funded and governed and the reality. She is the author of many publications including: The Puzzle of Boys’ Educational Decline: A Review of the Evidence, The Truth About Private Schools in Australia and School Funding for All: Making Sense of the Debate Over Dollars.

  Michael Duffy works part-time at the Sydney Morning Herald and Radio National, where he co-presents Counterpoint, a program that allows guests the chance to question some current orthodoxies. He believes the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ have not always been helpful in making an assessment of some of the most popular ideas that grew out of the 1960s, on issues such as: the environment, equity, self-reliance and race, and that good and bad are to be found on both sides of any argument. One illustration of this is that even though he appears tonight on the opposition side of this argument, Michael launched the book, The Stupid Country, a defence of public education, co-authored by Jane Caro and Chris Bonnor.

  Sam Molloy is a Prefect and Captain of Debating at Sydney Grammar School, a member of the 2009 NSW Schools Debating Squad and finalist in the Independent Schools Debating Competition in 2008 and 2009.  In between the long hours spent studying for the HSC, he enjoys playing football, rowing and swimming, playing guitar and the drum kit.  He has enjoyed coming to every IQ debate since its inception, in Sydney, and would love to have Simon Longstaff’s job!

Chair:

Dr Simon Longstaff is Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre. Simon spent five years studying and working as a member of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Having won scholarships to study at Cambridge, he read for the degrees of Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy. He was inaugural President of The Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics and is a Director of a number of companies. He is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum and a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Foreign Policy Association, based in New York. Simon has been Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre since shortly after it was founded.