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NEWS
Australian Jewish Orthodox Schools Struggle for Funding
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
Australian government funding of private schools has become a
campaign issue in the upcoming Australian federal elections
scheduled for November 10. As such, Jewish schools were
visited by candidates, including current Education Minister
Dr. David Kemp who visited Adass Israel to announce an
extension of a funding guarantee given by his Liberal
party.
Dr. Kemp announced that, if re-elected, his party is
committed to reviewing the impact its socioeconomic status
(SES) funding model for education has on some Orthodox Jewish
schools. This model for allocating government support for
education has provoked deep concern in the Jewish community
because it assesses the wealth of a school on the basis of
the general affluence of the postal zones from which its
student body is drawn without reference to the resources of
the school itself. Thus poor schools in with students from
affluent areas are most severely affected particularly those
who draw their students from a concentrated area for
religious reasons, where the student body may not be affluent
even if the general area is.
Dr. Kemp said that his party guarantees that Jewish schools
will maintain their current funding levels under a coalition
government, despite the funding model. This guarantee extends
to 2008 and it means that no independent school will lose
funding even though a strict application of the model would
not fund some schools including Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah, Adass
Israel and Sholem Aleichem.
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