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Infrastructure funds for boarding school facilities

The Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, today announced funding of $50 million to assist non-government boarding schools, particularly those in remote and regional areas that accommodate Indigenous students. Together with a $15.3 million investment for urgent upgrades announced as part of the expanding education options measure, this will provide $65 million in funding for boarding schools.

"This initiative will fund the repair and replacement of aged and deteriorating facilities, and support new developments to retain existing facilities and build further capacity to accommodate increasing numbers of Indigenous students. It will also enable those schools to meet the growing demand for high quality educational opportunities for Indigenous students in a boarding school environment," Minister Bishop said.

The funding will be targeted at boarding schools with demonstrated capacity to cater for Indigenous students (a minimum of 20 students per annum) to complete secondary schooling.

Targeted schools include those with a record of providing high expectations/high achievement educational opportunities for Indigenous students.

The funds will be provided to, and managed by, relevant Block Grant Authorities (BGAs), which will make payments to successful applicants (boarding schools) on the basis of need. BGAs were set up to administer Australian Government capital funding to non-government schools on the basis of the relative educational disadvantage of the student population of the school.

Minister Bishop said this initiative will place greater emphasis on the provision of mobility options for young Indigenous people, to enable them to have access to schools fostering a culture of high expectations and high achievement.

Supporting Information

Why is this important?

• This initiative will assist boarding schools with a significant Indigenous student cohort to increase their capacity to better meet the educational needs of Indigenous students from remote and regional areas.
• The initiative will provide much needed capital funding to a limited number of boarding schools with strong track records of providing secondary schooling for Indigenous young people. These schools have growing waiting lists for access to places for Indigenous people. Ageing or inadequate infrastructure will have a negative impact on their capacity to meet those demands.
• The initiative will have a significant benefit for Indigenous young people and their families. It will lead to accelerated improvement in their education, employment and training outcomes. It will also lead to significant improvement in community capacity in remote Indigenous communities, as many of these young people will eventually return to their home communities with enhanced knowledge, life skills and job readiness skills.

Who will benefit?

• Indigenous young people living in rural and remote areas who, with the support of their parents and community, choose to attend boarding schools to access the high quality education opportunities not otherwise available to them.

What funding is the Government committing to the initiative?

• $50 million plus $15.3 million for urgent upgrades.

When will the initiative conclude?

• Funding will be provided to Block Grant Authorities in 2007.