Private school with $85 million pool gets all-clear for federal cash
An exclusive Melbourne private school that has just opened an $85 million swimming complex has been cleared to receive three times as much federal funding as some comparable, high-fee peers.
Education Minister Jason Clare ordered the review of Commonwealth funding to Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC) in Burwood last year after The Age revealed the huge price tag for the prestigious school's new sports and aquatic centre, which opened in March.
Clare's department says it found no discrepancies in the school's Commonwealth funding, which increased in 2023 to more than $15.8 million from $9.2 million the previous year, according to the government's MySchool website.
The project has attracted fresh political heat, with the Australian Greens this week condemning the high level of taxpayer funding for a 'mega rich' school when Victorian government schools were set to remain underfunded for the rest of the decade.
PLC has previously said the dramatic jump in federal funding in 2023 was partially due to being back-paid money it was entitled to, but had not received, the two previous years and to a significant increase in enrolments.
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The school, which has not responded on Thursday to a request for comment, has consistently said the new sports centre was paid for from cash reserves, bank borrowing and donations, but not federal or state government funding.
The Education Department found the school's 'capacity to contribute (CTC)' score – which uses Tax Office records of parents' income levels to estimate the relative wealth of independent school communities – of 104 had been correctly assessed.
The department's data also shows that most Victorian independent schools with CTC scores in a similar range to PLC's were Catholic schools in Melbourne's middle or outer suburbs charging fees that were a fraction of the $41,000 parents pay for a year 11 or 12 place at the Presbyterian college.
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