The Gonski model of school funding unjustifiably favours public schools, will push up private school fees and is ultimately more complex than the system it is trying to replace, a public think tank says.
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The Institute of Public Affairs says the model's suggestion to base its School Resource Standard on the results of high-achieving schools is fraught with danger.
Research fellow Julie Novak said that non-government schools with fees and other private contributions higher than the SRS would receive less government funding, forcing them to rely more heavily on parents.
"This, in turn, could lead to pressure on Catholic and independent schools to raise fees in the future," she said.
"Such an outcome would harm the viability of non-government schools in a scenario of ever-increasing teacher salaries and other cost pressures, and reinforce the dominance of union-controlled government schooling putting even more pressure on the public purse."
David Gonski's final report from the review of school funding, released yesterday, suggests all students be entitled to an SRS funding level of about $8000 for primary students and $10,500 for secondary students.
Public schools will receive the full amount from the government while independent schools will receive a minimum contribution of 20 to 25 per cent, with the remainder to be sourced privately according to the school's "anticipated capacity to pay".
The report alsoc alled no a $5 billion investment from the government, with 75 per cent going to public schools, to bring all sectors onto an even par.
Ms Novak suggested that this recommendation placed too much emphasis on the public sector, which consistently cried for more funding t cater for disadvantaged students.
"The latest data shows that only 13 per cent of Australia's PISA 2009 reading performance can be attrbuted to scio-economic background and this effect has diminished since 2009," she said.
She added that the strongest growth in school performance over the past deace had occurred in low-fee independent schools catering for students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.
"That certain stakeholders, such as the Australian Education Union, claim that educational disadvntage is being perpetuated in government schools is more a function of the system and school effectiveness and teacher quality issues than an alleged lack of funding," she said.
