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Some Sydney private schools will be charging more than $45,000 a year.Credit:Michael Howard

Several schools have more than tripled their tuition costs since 2005 and,at the current rate of increase,Carroll estimates fees will exceed $65,000 a year by the end of the decade.

Private schools have been grappling with a loss of government money over recent years as funding levels are adjusted for fairness under the Gonski model,with changes taking into account parents’ income. The unionrepresenting staff at 250 NSW private schools has reached a deal with the Association of Independent Schools that will lift teacher pay about 3 per cent above public school pay rates.

The private schools claim recent pay rises in the public sector have made government schools more attractive career possibilities,but some wealthy schools,including King’s and Shore,have paid well above public sector rates for years.

Aspects of wealthier schools’ culture worryingly undermine their cries of poverty.

For instance,the King’s School’s 2022 decision to send its headmaster and his wife on a business-class trip to Britain to watch the Royal Henley Regatta at an estimated cost of $45,000 was tone-deaf hubris personified. And many schools with an average of about 1500 students and 170 staff offer remunerations close to the $500,000 packages paid to NSW vice chancellors,who run universities with over 70,000 enrolments and 8000 staff.

LatestAustralian Bureau of Statistics figures show the drift from the public school system is changing NSW education. Independent schools have increased enrolments significantly but public school enrolments declined for the fifth year in a row. Public school enrolments fell to 62.9 per cent,down from 2019’s 65.4 per cent.

Of course,public school enrolments in NSW have been dropping as Australians have grown more affluent and real cuts to government funding have eroded the public sector’s ability to match the burgeoning private school sector. Much of this has been fuelled by low and mid-fee private schools in outer suburbs that charge in the vicinity of $6000 to $10,000 a year. Many NSW parents are happy to allow their children to attend public primary schools but then head to the independent schools system for secondary schooling.

But there are indications in some parts of Sydney that schools in the public system cannot keep up with demand. Crows Nest’sCammeraygal High School is turning away students from its owncatchment.The Ponds High School,with 2200 students,is operating at twice its cap.

Meanwhile,eye-watering fee hikes by the wealthiest schools will not only make them more elite but will put them out of reach of hard-working middle-class families,already hit by cost of living rises. Even though some parents are prepared to pay,all schools should accept a level of scrutiny on behalf of parents and other taxpayers.

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