Education funding a concern for ICPA

THE Isolated Children's Parents' Association WA (ICPA WA) has raised concerns around Royalties for Regions allocated funds.

With the recent change of State Government, the association said it was prepared to lobby for educational matters in rural and remote areas, including funding.

Immediate past ICPA WA president Liz Sudlow said all regional children should have access to equitable education, but this was still, sadly, not currently available.

She said in times of budget tightening it was important that cuts were not made to regional schools and educational services.

"The ICPA is continuing to lobby the State Government for an increase to the Boarding Away From Home Allowance and to ensure that rural and remote schools, including School of the Air and School of Isolated and Distance Education are adequately funded, " Ms Sudlow said.

The ICPA WA said with the change in government it would continue to seek an increase to the WA Boarding Away From Home Allowance (BAHA), as it hadn't been increased since 2010.

Ms Sudlow said the association had been lobbying government for an increase for many years.

"Our concern is that there was a review of the Royalties for Regions component of that," she said.

"The allowance is for just over $2000 and of that $780 comes from Royalties for Regions supplement, so we are concerned with a change of government whether this allocation is still secure."

Ms Sudlow said the ICPA WA would like to see an increase of at least $2000 to the existing BAHA.

The BAHA is paid to assist geographically-isolated families with the cost of boarding and education charges for primary or secondary school age children.

The allowance for 2017 is $2105 on the proviso that families have received the AIC Allowance or Second Home Allowance for all of the year.

The ICPA WA said the last increase to the allowance was by $50 in 2010, however the average cost of boarding fees at government, Catholic and independent schools in WA in 2016 is approximately $19,636, while the average cost of tuition at non-government secondary schools is $16,318.

Typically, the fees rise on average between four to eight per cent per annum.

There are eight government residential colleges located around regional WA, which provide accommodation for students attending government and in some cases, non-government schools.

The average cost of boarding is $13,510.

For some families, Perth is the most suitable option as it is the most convenient for travel arrangements.

The only government residential college in Perth, located at City Beach, is for gifted and talented students.

Ms Sudlow said the ICPA WA has been lobbying for as long as she could remember for the increase to the BAHA.

"We acknowledge that in WA we do have great residential facilities, but many of them are full," she said.

"The Pilbara is a region of the State that has no government boarding facility and for those families, Perth is the only real option.

"There's no government boarding facility in the metropolitan area for mainstream students, so independent boarding schools are the only option.

"We'd like to see the BAHA increased and we're certainly very concerned that the Royalties for Regions funding may be in jeopardy."

Ms Sudlow said WA has gone from the best performing economy a couple of years back to the worst Australia-wide, broadly speaking.

"Western Australians have been forced to knuckle down to the reality of having to work with less and accept less," she said.

"As for those who live and work in the bush, the situation is becoming critical.

"Those of us who choose to live in rural and remote areas are increasingly becoming a voice in the wilderness. We are being left to sink or swim.

"And as more and more of us sink - and choose, or are forced to move to regional cities or Perth - it is making it more difficult for those that remain.

"The 'out of sight, out of mind' attitude of government and our society is slowly, but surely, strangling many areas of the bush.

"When our educational opportunities, our telecommunications, our health facilities and outcomes are increasingly being left behind the services of those in the city, after a while for many, the inequity becomes too much.

"I'm not sure where that ends, build a city wall around Perth and leave everyone outside it, to fend for themselves."

Ms Sudlow said telecommunications and broader funds were an issue for regional and remote families.

The ICPA WA is wasting no time in lobbying the new government to make a greater effort to attract and retain principals and quality staff in rural and remote schools and then gain better support networks from the Department of Education for principals and teachers.

Ms Sudlow said the decline in the support to regional schools and funding was contributing to the population decline in regional WA.

The introduction of the Student Centred Funding Model by the government in 2015 combined with the shift to greater autonomy for schools, may work well in the city, however the ICPA WA believe it was having a negative effect on rural and remote schools around WA.

The council said many rural and remote schools now find it difficult to attract principals and many schools were not able to offer a range of suitable subject choices.