The Northern Territory has committed to increasing school funding as part of the current bilateral agreement with the Federal Government.
The allocation of the $40 million of Federal Government funding provided to schools in the Central Region for the On-Country Learning measure has been calculated according to enrolment data, not effective enrolment data.
The NT government welcomes the additional funding for all government and non-government schools in the Central Region to improve community engagement and support student learning.
Effective enrolment uses the average of the previous year’s two highest weeks of attendance for each term to estimate figures and is currently used to allocate government school funding in the Northern Territory.
The calculation used for the allocation of funding for On Country Learning measure is based on accurate enrolment numbers from the Age Grade Census August 2022.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education, Eva Lawler:
“The accurate enrolment calculation method supports schools in the Central Region being funded closer to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).
“The Effective Enrolment Review was finalised in December 2022 and the NT Government has communicated its intent to move towards an enrolment based, rather than attendance based, methodology as the basis for allocating needs-based funding to schools.”
Northern Territory Government
