Private schools received $8billion dollars more than public schools for capital investment over 2002-05. This massive gap is the key finding of a recent report on school capital investment in Australia.
If public schools had received the same per student funding as the private sector, each and every public school would have received $1.2million extra capital funding. Enough to make your local principal go weak at the knees, let alone the P&C fund-raising committee.
The Federal Government has stated its desire to settle the ''public versus private'' debate in schooling. This is a laudable objective. But is it realistic to expect parents with children in the public sector to quietly put up with such inequitable investment between school sectors?
An equal go for all is a cornerstone of our society. Shouldn't this be the case for our five-year-olds? They do not choose which school they go to any more than they choose their families. So how do we justify having more than two-thirds of our children in an undercapitalised public school system when private schools continue to receive large public subsidies?
This is even harder to justify when the Labor Government has just announced a $21billion federal budget surplus.
But of course this is more than a moral issue. It is about our economy's ability to provide quality schooling for all so we can look after ourselves in the future.
In some countries a ''virtuous cycle'' of solid investment in social services generates high-quality services that are appreciated by the community. In turn, communities support further investment in these services, leading to their ongoing improvement.
Yet in other countries a ''vicious cycle'' of underinvestment kicks in with devastating effects. Social services become rundown and then underused. This then leads to declining political support for their funding, driving yet further reductions in public services in a downward spiral.
In Australia, we have long had a virtuous investment cycle for public schools. Public schooling has produced generations of leaders in government, business and the community. Most public schools benefit from their reputation for quality as well as their local, inclusive, free and secular nature.
But we have been moving from a virtuous cycle to a vicious cycle in school funding. Public school funding increases have been insufficient to meet infrastructure needs. Public schools have also been outstripped by the growth in private school funding.
Your average parent often sees a public school that is inferior in facilities to the nearest comparable private school. Hardly surprising there has been a constant dribble out of the public system towards the private sector. And then as more parents take their children from public schools, it becomes harder to generate support for more public funding. Say hello to the dawn of a vicious cycle in public school funding.
The good news is that you can switch back from a vicious cycle of underinvestment. Better still, it's easier the sooner you get started. Most state governments have increased investment in public schools in the last two years. But it is nowhere near enough to overcome the funding imbalance.
The Commonwealth can finance an additional $2billion a year for capital investment. That is the cost of a level playing field. Cheap you might think, at less than 10 per cent of the current budget surplus.
Australia can benefit from the new opportunities for 21st century schooling. Schools the world over are being redefined and redesigned in what is an exciting period of reinvention.
Schools now may include child centres, offer parent education courses, and weekend/vacation use for the whole community. Factor in new designs for environmental sustainability plus new classroom technologies, and it all adds up to schools such as we have never had before. Now is certainly the time to be investing in schools.
This may well be a critical moment in Australian schooling. The future for underfunded public schools is a downward spiral in confidence and quality. We know how that movie ends. A sustained period of large increases in capital investment can help public schools leapfrog into the future with first rate facilities. This requires governments to act with real vision. It also means shifting from the political ''spin cycle'' and investing heavily in public education.
Adam Rorris is a Centre for Policy Development fellow, education economist and policy analyst who has worked for the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, AusAID, and state and Commonwealth departments of education.