Total expenditure on government schools by state and territory governments and the Australian Government (National Schools Statistics Collection: Finance) - (Financial year)

Notes and caveats

• The "Government expenditure on government schools" (National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC): Finance) data set is based on expenditure data for a financial year, whereas the "School income and capital expenditure for government and non-government schools" (My School finance) data is based on school income data for a calendar year. Therefore, the two data sources should not be compared.
• Expenditure incorporates both salary and non-salary costs.
• Salary on-costs include items such as superannuation, payroll tax and workers compensation.
• There is a notional payroll tax for WA, Tas., Qld and the ACT, as schools in these jurisdictions are exempted from paying payroll tax.
• Non-salary costs include other operating expenses, grants and subsidies, and depreciation.
• User Cost of Capital: In the government budget context, the user cost of capital is usually defined as the opportunity cost of funds tied up in capital assets used to deliver government services. Capital charging is the actual procedure used for applying this cost of capital to the asset management process. As such, it is a means of representing the cost of capital used in the provision of government budgetary outputs.
• A notional user cost of capital based on 8% of total written down value of capital assets as at 30 June of the relevant year is applied to all jurisdictions.
• Capital expenditure figures include Australian Government capital grants contributions.
• The data do not represent total government expenditure on school-level education. They specifically exclude items such as:
  • Commonwealth direct payments to parents and/or students
  • Preschools and TAFE establishments
  • Sinking fund payments and interest on Commonwealth loans
  • Teacher housing and student hostel provisions
  • Funds raised by schools, school councils or community organisations.
• Components may not add to totals due to rounding.
• For the 2008/2009 financial year, per capita and enrolment data was not collected.
• For further information, please see the School Funding section of the relevant National Report on Schooling in Australia

Sources: Government Schools Finance Statistics Group, National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) - Finance, 2021 (unpublished); National Report on Schooling in Australia, previous years

This information relates to Part 4 of the National Report on Schooling in Australia.