Research published by Save Our Schools in 2025 shows clearly that Australian public schools bear a very large burden of disadvantage but are under-resourced for the challenge.
This is because public schools receive less income than private schools, but enrol far more students from low socio-educationally advantaged (SEA) families.
Economist and Save Our Schools National Convenor Trevor Cobbold said in a media release:
Income per student in public schools is 91.5% of the income of Catholic schools but the percentage of students from low socio-educationally advantaged (SEA) families in public schools is nearly 200% of that in Catholic schools.
Income per student in public schools is only 70.5% of that of Independent schools while their percentage of low SEA students is 285.6% of that in Independent schools….
Most disadvantaged schools are public schools. In 2023, 90.9% of schools with more than 50% of their students in the lowest SEA quartile were public schools [Chart 3]. Only 4% were Catholic schools and 5.2% were Independent schools. Public schools account for the vast majority of disadvantaged schools in every state/territory…
It is imperative that governments at all levels ensure that public schools are fully funded to improve school outcomes for disadvantaged students. The vast majority of public schools will remain under-funded indefinitely under current funding agreements.
Download the SOS media release Download the full research report