Commonwealth Funding
Adventist Schools
Needs Based Funding Arrangement
The aim of the Needs-based Funding Arrangement is to allocate funding to each school through the use of base funding and loadings, which will enable schools to deliver quality Adventist Education while also being financially viable.
This NBF Arrangement is reviewed annually to ensure that the arrangement remains compliant and publicly accessible.
Background
Seventh-day Adventist Schools (Victoria) Limited (ASV) receives Commonwealth recurrent funding on behalf of its colleges as the approved system authority. Prior to 2020 recurrent Commonwealth funding received by ASV were distributed to colleges as apportioned by the Department of Education Skills and Employment (DESE).
During 2020 changes to the Australian Education Act saw the SES (socio-economic status) being replaced by the DMI (Direct Measure of Income) as a means to calculate the CTC (Capacity to Contribute) scores of Non-Government Schools.
Under the new DMI policy settings:
All non-government schools’ Commonwealth shares of the SRS (School Resource Standard) was reset in 2020
Systemic non-government schools belonging to the same Approved System Authority no longer transitioned as a whole system together. Instead, systemic schools will transition to the 80% share target as individual schools
Commonwealth funding for non-government schools will transition towards 80% SRS with the target of 80% being reached by 2023
The effect of the new DMI policy settings on ASV was that for some colleges there was a big decline in their SRS share with the result that the funding for these schools would actually decrease in 2020. The impact on funding for each school was reviewed by the ASV board who subsequently made the decision to redistribute Commonwealth Recurrent Funding in accordance with Section 78(5) of the Australian Education Act 2013, using ASV’s own needs-based funding arrangement.
Seven Schools
Adventist Schools Victoria Context
Seventh-day Adventist Schools (Victoria) Limited (ASV) is an Approved System Authority operating seven Adventist Schools across the state of Victoria. The seven schools are as follows:
Edinburgh College
Heritage College
Henderson College
Gilson College
Mernda Hills Christian College
Nunawading Christian College (Secondary)
Nunawading Christian College (Primary)
As the Approved System Authority, ASV receives funding from the Australian Federal Government. The Board of Directors then has the delegated authority and responsibility of allocating recurrent funding to the schools on a needs-basis.
Funding and Support for Seventh-day Adventist Schools (Victoria) - ASV
ASV operates by retaining a percentage of the overall school funding to cover its necessary administrative and operational costs. This arrangement enables ASV to function as an approved system authority, providing essential, specialised support to its affiliate schools.
The key benefit for affiliated schools is access to a range of centralised services, which leverage economies of scale and an in-depth understanding of the schools' unique governance and faith structures. These services include:
Pooled professional development
Human resources
Risk management
Complaint handling
Financial management support
Administrative Functions and Accountability
Administrative costs are directly linked to fulfilling ASV's obligations as an approved system authority and providing support across several critical areas:
Governance and Leadership
Education and Religious Studies
Compliance and Risk Management
Financial Management
To ensure accountability, each school annually reports to the Board of Directors, College Council and Senior Leadership on the activities and progress toward the strategic plan.
Rationale
Base and Loadings Distribution
Transition Considerations
From 2020 the recurrent funding calculation of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) percentage sees schools that are a part of Approved System Authorities being funded at an individual SRS percentage rather than a systemic SRS percentage. This change to the calculation methodology sees significant variances in the SRS percentage of funding.
Needs-based Funding Allocation:
In line with section 78(5) of the Australian Education Act, ASV provides an amount per student for each school that will allow all students to achieve the expected educational outcomes. For the 2026 budget year these amounts are:
Edinburgh College: $10,528
Gilson College $11,346
Henderson College: $ 11,506
Heritage College: $ 11,554
Mernda Hills Christian College: $11,186
Nunawading Christian College (Primary): $9,802
Nunawading Christian College (Secondary): $12,112
ASV also provides the following six Commonwealth prescribed loadings to support students with additional needs as follows:
Students with disability
The student with disability loading does not provide an amount per school as the same amount is provided to each school regardless of their CTC score or any other parameters. Funding is based on disability categories of supplementary, substantial or extensive.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (ATSI)
The amount of funding per ATSI student is influenced by the ratio of primary and secondary students, as well as the ratio of ATSI students in a school cohort.
Students with socio-educational disadvantage (SES)
The SED leading is influenced by a student background data collection that is conducted each year by ACARA. The data that is captured includes but is not limited to, gender, DOB, language, ATSI status etc
Students who have low English proficiency (LEP)
The LEP loading is also influenced by the ACARA annual data collection as stated above.
Schools based on location
The location loading is based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australian (ARIA) Value which is provided by the Australian Government. Currently only Henderson College receives a location loading.
Schools based on size
The number or enrolments influences the amount of funding that is dispersed the schools.
New Schools
Any new schools that commence operation between 2026 and 2029 will be included in the ASV SRS calculation and will receive the same SRS percentage of both Commonwealth and State funding as the other schools within the system.
Review of Needs-Based Funding Arrangement
This needs based funding arrangement will be reviewed annually to ensure it remains a valid and appropriate methodology for allocating Government funding to all Colleges within ASV.
