Education is a key ministry of the Catholic Church in Australia. Catholic schools are integral to the Church’s mission of forming the next generation in faith. Catholic schools are a major contributor to Australian education. They contribute to the common good and to the nation’s social and economic capital. They have helped nurture a more just, tolerant and cohesive society. In the spirit of the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, Catholic education is determined in its commitment to excellence and equity.

Quality education for all children and young people 

  1. Access to high-quality education is the right of every young Australian. 
  2. Catholic schools partner with families, government and the wider community to deliver high-quality, affordable and accessible education across Australia. 
  3. Government resourcing supports quality teaching and learning for all young people, including those in Catholic schools. 

Parental choice 

  1. Government funding policy supports educational choice for all families, including those experiencing disadvantage. 
  2. Accessible Catholic education in a wide variety of locations provides families with real school choice. 3. Families and the wider Catholic community contribute to sharing the costs of Catholic education with Governments through the payment of school fees and levies.

Religious freedom 

  1. Catholic education supports the rights of families to educate their children according to their beliefs and values. 
  2. Catholic authorities are free to govern their schools, which are free to teach and form students in the Catholic faith. 
  3. Catholic schools celebrate Catholic identity and faith as an integral and inseparable activity of the school.

School Funding

Catholic schools are funded through Commonwealth and Territory School Resource Standard (SRS) funding, school fees and donations.

Catholic Education Northern Territory (CENT) is the Approved Authority registered with the Department of Education to facilitate the Territory-wide distribution of funding to all Northern Territory’s Catholic schools. Through judicious stewardship of resources, CENT strives to realise our vision – Inspired by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we commit to educational excellence, equity and fullness of life for all.

Australian Government Funding 

The Australian Government provides funding for Catholic schools to assist with the recurrent costs of school education. The funding methodology incorporates a ‘base’ plus a ‘loading’ component. The loading component assist schools and students to face different types of disadvantages. 

Funding under the Australian Education Act 2013 from the Commonwealth Government

  • Base allocation
  • Location loading
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander loading
  • Low socio-economic status loading
  • School-size loading
  • Low English Proficiency loading
  • Special needs students loading.
Northern Territory Government Funding

Funding provided by the Northern Territory Government to non-government schools is determined as a proportion of the estimated cost of educating a student in a government school.The total funding is then distributed to all non-government schools using an attendance-based model, with allocations determined by student enrolments and attendance levels.

NT Government non-government schools per capita funding

  • Base allocation
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander loading
  • Location loading
  • Students with disabilities loading.
Distribution of recurrent government funding to Catholic Education NT schools

The funding distribution model withholds a certain percentage of the SRS funding to support CENT’s system administrative costs, common programs and other co-responsibilities. The model is reviewed on an annual basis. 

CENT endorsed the following Guiding Principles as the reference point for the development, implementation and operation of the funding mechanism for the allocation of funds to systemically funded Catholic Education Diocesan schools in the Northern Territory.

Common Good
The funding mechanism promotes the common good, as is understood in Catholic social teaching, through Catholic Education.

Shared responsibility
The funding mechanism recognises the co-responsibility of all Catholic schools to work with each other and with the Catholic Education Office to serve the needs of students, including the operation of co-responsibility programs.

Equity
The funding mechanism delivers equity for students through the allocation of funds based on student need, as intended by the Australian Government funding model.

Integrity
The funding mechanism promotes fairness and honesty in the allocation of funds and operates consistently with the funding agreements by which the funds are provided.

Subsidiarity
The funding mechanism places the responsibility for decision-making in the use of resources closest to those whose needs are the focus of the decisions and where there is capacity for such decisions to be made.

Accountability
The funding mechanism assists leaders at the school and system levels to fulfil their responsibility to maximise the learning outcomes and wellbeing of students and to fulfil their stewardship of the funds of Catholic Education.

Transparency
The processes, data and communications related to the funding mechanism are clear, understandable and open to scrutiny.

Viability
The funding mechanism provides predictability in the allocation of funding to schools; it maximises the sustainability of Catholic schools individually and as a sector; it facilitates responsiveness to changes in circumstances; and it enables the provision of appropriate transition arrangements.

Distribution of recurrent government funding to systemically Funded Non-Diocesan Schools

St Joseph’s Catholic Flexible Learning Centre

All funding attracted by CENT for St Joseph’s Catholic Flexible Learning Centre, including all loadings, is disbursed to Edmund Rice Education Australia for use at the school in line with the Service Agreement.