Making better use of school funds

In 2013, Julia Gillard promised that no individual school would be worse off in order to sell her government's four-year funding deal – carving in stone the idea that school funding can only ever go upwards. With serious discussion to start next year on the next funding agreement, a new Grattan Institute report has found that the system has spare cash that could be better spent on other educational objectives – most critically in better teaching skills.

The money is hidden in an inflation allowance that has turned out to be unneeded, and cash the Gillard government gave to schools that were already overfunded. Reversing the latter would mean axing the idea that no one can ever lose out – even when they are already well provided. But doing so could free up the $3.5 billion needed to bring needy schools up to scratch without spending any more money than already allocated in the 2016 budget.