Recommendation 7.12 – Improving funding

What has been achieved to date

Governments have signed the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement or Better and Fairer Schools Agreement – Full and Fair Funding 2025-2034 committing parties to a future review of the Schooling Resource Standard base and loadings methodology (including the student with disability loading) to ensure it remains a relevant tool, including consideration of possible changes.

Under the Agreement, all parties reiterate their commitment to funding transparency, providing full and accessible information on needs-based funding arrangements and how funding is distributed to schools for the benefit of all students, including students with disability.

Some examples of state and territory progress to implement the intent of this recommendation include, but are not limited to:

• The ACT Education Directorate has completed consultation on the practice changes required to implement an adjustments-based funding model for students with disability. Preparatory work to implement the model from 2026 is progressing.
• The Northern Territory has completed a review of the Students with Disability resourcing model, and has begun work to implement improved funding.

What the Disability Royal Commission said in the final report

a) The Australian Government should work with the Education Ministers Meeting to refine the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) levels of adjustments and associated funding for students with disability in response to the findings of the Student with disability loading settings review.

b) The Australian Government and the Education Ministers Meeting should review disability loading settings and total funding for adjustments every five years to ensure the funding allocated bears a close relationship to the actual cost of supporting students with disability in classrooms and to determine appropriate indexation and distribution of funding.

c) State and territory governments should ensure they are using a disability funding model based on strengths and needs that aligns with enhanced NCCD levels of adjustment and Australian Government needs-based funding arrangements to enable students with disability to access and participate in education on an equal basis to their peers.

d) State and territory education departments should improve transparency on the use of disability funding in the government school sector by:

• developing a methodology and reporting template to record the use of all sources of school funding against defined categories of adjustments and support for students with disability
• applying this methodology and template to record expenditure on services and staff commissioned by the department on behalf of schools for students with disability
• publicly reporting on how the needs of students with disability are being met from all available resources, with early priority given to capturing the use of disability-specific loadings and other disability-specific program funding.
• State and territory school registration authorities should require schools to complete the funding template mentioned at d) and submit the template to the relevant state or territory education department.

Joint Government Response July 2024

The Australian Government and state and territory governments support a vision for improved data and evidence on the experience and outcomes of students with disability, building best practice for inclusive education and improving funding for students with disability.

Implementing these recommendations requires further consideration by governments, including further work to consider data collection categories and reporting. In addition, implementing components of these recommendations will require consideration of impacts on workload for schools and data management systems.

State and territory governments will consider how to deliver the intent of these recommendations within their jurisdictions.

More recommendations

View progress on other recommendations made by the Royal Commission.