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Private schools stay quiet on cash bonanza
Anna Patty EDUCATION EDITOR
August 23, 2010 - 3:00AM
THE state's wealthiest private schools posted financial surpluses of up to $8.4 million last year after the Commonwealth delivered them as much as $10 million in annual subsidies.
Some did not have to declare their surpluses but the headmaster of Cranbrook School at Bellevue Hill, which topped the list, called for all schools to be as transparent as his and make their finances public.
Annual reports lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for last year show Queenwood School for Girls in Mosman generated a net surplus of $4.7 million after receiving $16.8 million in fees, $1.06 million in donations and $3.2 million in government funding.
Ascham School at Edgecliff recorded a surplus of $3.04 million after receiving $21.6 million in fees and $2.5 million in government funding.
And Cranbrook registered a net surplus of $8.4 million, which took into account consolidated revenue from all sources, including $2.7 million in bequests and donations.
The headmaster, Jeremy Madin, who will retire this year, said the consolidated net surplus included capital works grants under the federal government stimulus program, which had been spent. The school's operations, which included fees of $29.9 million, generated a surplus of $968,585.
Mr Madin said the school depended on making a surplus to cover capital works and maintenance costs. ''We have to stand on our own two feet to raise funds to build classrooms and laboratories. Until the BER [Building the Education Revolution] program, the government has not provided us with any capital works funding.''
Cranbrook and other schools that are registered as non-profit companies limited by guarantee must lodge an annual financial report with ASIC in compliance with the Corporations Act. But many other schools, including The King's School, Shore and Sydney Grammar are not required to lodge the statements with ASIC because they are covered by different acts of parliament, including one that covers schools associated with the Anglican Church.
Mr Madin said his school believed in transparency and supported all schools making their finances public on the My School website.
''We think it's about time,'' he said. ''We should know the cost of all schooling.''
The state Greens MP John Kaye said the public purse was being used to ''bolster very healthy bottom lines'' for private schools. He said the Gillard government had awarded the nation's 161 wealthiest private schools $432 million this year.
''With $432 million of public funding each year, these elite institutions should be fully accountable in how they spend their money,'' he said.
The executive director of the Association of Independent Schools NSW, Geoff Newcombe, said surpluses for last year might have included some BER funding. ''Schools maintain surpluses in order to fund current and future capital projects, as 80 per cent of capital projects are funded by parents,'' he said.
The NSW Department of Education and Training refused the Herald's request for figures showing how much recurrent funding government schools received.
Sydney Girls High School's website records $862,464 received in global and tied funds. The school also holds $247,068.91 in trust.
A spokeswoman for the department said the school also received funding for staffing, maintenance, cleaning and infrastructure and technology support.
But when asked how much this represented, the spokeswoman said a figure was not available and these services were ''paid centrally and are not itemised next to every school's recurrent funding ledger''.
The department's website shows that Sydney Girls High received $260,967.50 in voluntary contributions last year and holds $2.84 million in its bank account.
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/national/e ... 20100822-13asx.html |
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