$38 BILLION SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE GAP AS PUBLIC SCHOOLS LEFT BEHIND

Australian Education Union Media Release 21 February 2026

A new report reveals a deep and growing divide in school infrastructure funding, with private schools spending billions on capital infrastructure while public schools are left behind, with no ongoing Commonwealth capital funding since 2017.

The building divide in Australian schools: How capital funding fuels educational inequity, reveals that over the past decade private schools have outspent public schools on capital works by $38 billion, including $5.4 billion in 2023 alone.

It shows that capital investment in private schools averaged $2,746 per student per year between 2014 and 2023, compared with $1,237 per student in public schools.

This inequity is fuelled by the lack of federal funding for capital investment in public schools.

AEU Correna Haythorpe said this imbalance dates back to 2017, when the Turnbull Government ceased the Commonwealth’s long-term capital funding stream for public schools.

Between 2017 and 2025, the Commonwealth’s Non-Government School Capital Grants Program has delivered more than $1.6 billion to private schools, with a further almost $3 billion scheduled between 2025 and 2034. By contrast, public schools receive no permanent federal capital stream.

In 2023 alone, the highest-spending private schools collectively outlaid sums that exceeded the total capital expenditure of thousands of public schools combined. In some cases, single private schools spent more on building projects than entire public school systems in smaller states and territories.

AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said the divide is being driven by Commonwealth policy settings that fund capital works in private schools while leaving public schools without a long-term federal stream.

“Elite private schools are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on castle-style libraries, Olympic-sized swimming pools, rooftop sports courts and multi-storey innovation centres, while the Commonwealth has provided no ongoing capital funding stream for public schools since 2017,” Ms Haythorpe said

“Too often, temporary solutions like demountable classrooms have become permanent solutions. Teachers can’t effectively prepare students for the future in classrooms and facilities built for the past.”

“Public schools educate the majority of children and deserve high quality, state of the art teaching and learning facilities. This inequity has to stop.”

“When 5 private schools are spending more than 50% of Australia’s public schools all together, it is clear the system is working for the wealthy and against everyone else.”

“That is not an accident, it is the result of policy choices that keep directing public funding towards already wealthy private schools.”

The AEU is calling on the Commonwealth to:

1. Provide a significant and immediate injection of capital investment to public schools in recognition of, and partial rectification of, the billions of dollars lost through the abandonment of Commonwealth capital funding in 2017.
2. Create a permanent Commonwealth capital fund to ensure that all public schools have access to the funds they need to provide adequate and safe 21^st century learning environments.
3. Negotiate a joint partnership with state and territory governments to invest in new and upgraded public schools and facilities, with the provision that Commonwealth capital funding for public schools triggers increased investment from state and territory governments.
4. Ensure that all public schools have access to funds prioritising purpose-built learning spaces and school facilities, including modified bathrooms and playgrounds that are accessible for all students with disability.
5. Work with and incentivise state and territory governments to ensure all growth suburbs have public primary and secondary schools that are open and accessible when residents arrive; and
6. Ensure that the capital works required to implement the Thriving Kids initiative in public schools are funded through the initiative, not through recurrent or capital schools funding.

“We know that great facilities deliver great results for students and for teachers,” Ms Haythorpe said.

“If the federal government want schools to do more, including supporting students with complex needs, they must invest in the buildings and spaces that make that possible.”

“A guaranteed long-term federally funded capital works package will provide much needed improvements to public schools and ensure schools are fit for the future.”