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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. In 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?

Poll results

At each IQ² debate the audience is polled on the topic, both before and after the debate takes place. Here are the results for this debate:

	Pre-debate poll	Post-debate poll
For:	61%	69%
Undecided:	14%	3%
Against:	25%	28%

Watch the video

Speakers

For:

• Chris Bonnor AM is a retired school principal and co-author (with Jane Caro) of The Stupid Country – How Australia is dismantling public education, (UNSW Press, 2007). He writes for various publications and is a contributing author to the Centre for Policy Development’s More Than Luck: Ideas Australia Needs Now. Bonnor is a Fellow of the Centre for Policy Development.
• Beatrice Duong from Year 11 John Monash Science School, is one of Victoria’s top female high school debaters. She wishes to further a career in biomedical research and, apart from the sciences, has a strong interest in public speaking, music, drama and soccer. Duong has debated since year eight and has since gone on to captain her debating team, competed in multiple tournaments and been involved in the 2010/2011 Victorian State Schools' Squad and Team.
• Shane Maloney is an Author and Commentator

Against:

• Dr Kevin Donnelly is one of Australia’s leading education commentators and author of Why Our Schools are Failing (2004), Dumbing Down (2007) and Australia’s Education Revolution (2009). He has written more than 400 articles in the daily media and professional journals and appears regularly on radio and television, both state and national. Donnelly taught English for 18 years in Victorian government and non-government secondary schools and has been a member of state and national curriculum bodes including the Year 12 English Panel of Examiners, the Victorian Board of Studies and the Discovering Democracy Programme. His PhD thesis argues the case for a liberal/humanist view of education and stresses the importance of cultural literacy and education being impartial and balanced. Currently, Dr Donnelly is Director of Melbourne-based Education Standards Institute. While growing up in Broadmeadows, he was a member of the Eureka Youth Movement.
• Andrew Elder from Year 12 Scotch College, is one of Victoria’s top male high school debaters. He has a broad range of interests including rugby, rowing, drama, music and – of course – debating. He's debated all through his school career, culminating in 2010 when he helped lead his school team to win the Victorian B Grade championships and was selected in the Victorian schools debating team (runners-up at the national championships). As the youngest of five children, passionately arguing his point comes naturally.
• Amanda Vanstone is a former Australian politician and a former Ambassador to Italy, taking office in June 2007 to May 2010. She was a Liberal Senator for South Australia from 1984 to 2007 and held several ministerial portfolios in the Howard Government including Minister for Immigration and Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs from 1996-1997.

Chair:

Dr Simon Longstaff has a PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge. Prior to becoming the inaugural Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre in 1991, Dr Longstaff worked in the Northern Territory in the Safety Department of BHP subsidiary, GEMCO, lectured at Cambridge University and consulted to the Cambridge Commonwealth and Overseas Trusts. His book Hard Cases, Tough Choices was published in 1997. Dr Longstaff was inaugural President of the Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics and is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum. He is Chairman of Woolworths Limited Corporate Responsibility Panel and AMP Capital Socially Responsible Investment Advisory Committee and serves as Member on a number of Board Committees.