Private school salary subsidy cut

Press, 1 August 1986, Page 3

Private school salary subsidy cut

Private school fees may rise as school authorities attempt to compensate for a cut in Government support The subsidy to private schools on . teachers’ salaries was cut at" inidnight last night from 50 per cent to 37.5 per cent of the average State salary cost per pupil. The Minister of Education, Mr . Marshall, estimated the change would save the taxpayer $3.8 million but said a yet to be decided proportion of that saving would be spent on increasing boarding bursaries in both State and private schools. This, he said, would benefit those country

people who qualified. “At a time when all sections of the education community have to accept curbs on expenditure, the Government has decided the private school sector must play its part,” he said. He seems, however, to have scored a victory in an otherwise austere Budget and yesterday signalled new policies in the Education vote which will cost $lO million this financial year, rising to more than $2l million in 198788. Details of that package will be announced today and are expected to range across all levels, from pre-school to university.