ACT public school budgets

ACT public schools are funded to provide every student with a high-quality education and the support they need to learn.

Funding comes from both the ACT and Australian governments. The amount each school receives can change from year to year, based on the number and needs of its students and the circumstances of the school.

School funding for 2027 is informed by the advice of the independent Public School System Resourcing Review.

How are public schools funded?

ACT public schools receive funding from both the ACT Government and the Australian Government.

School funding is based on the national Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). The SRS is an estimate of how much public funding a school needs to meet the educational needs of its students. It includes a base amount for each student, as well as extra funding for students and schools that need more support.

Under the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, state and territory governments must fund at least 75 per cent of the SRS, while the Australian Government increases its share to 25 per cent by 2034.

The ACT Government provides most of the funding for ACT public schools. Under our agreement with the Australian Government, the ACT must fund at least 80 per cent of the SRS, increasing to 81.5 per cent by 2030.

While this is the baseline requirement, the ACT Government actually contributes more than 90 per cent* of the SRS to our public schools. Along with the Australian Government’s share (which will be 22.5 per cent in 2026), this means ACT public schools are funded above the SRS. The ACT is the only Australian jurisdiction* where every public school is funded above this standard.

* based on most recent audited Australian Government data.

How much does the ACT Government invest in public schools?

The 2026-27 ACT Budget provides $1.2 billion for the ACT public school system, an increase of 7.3 per cent from the previous year’s Budget.

Across the broader education system, the ACT Government is investing $2.1 billion in education in 2026-27. Education is the ACT Government’s second largest area of spending, after health.

What makes up a public school's budget?

The ACT Government uses its own Student Resource Allocation (SRA) formula to share funding across ACT public schools.

The SRA is designed to direct more resources to schools and students with greater needs. Each school’s budget is mostly based on the number of students enrolled, along with student and school characteristics.

A school budget can include:

• Core funding: funding for the day-to-day delivery of education, including staffing to meet students’ basic needs.
• Funding for additional needs: extra funding to support students who may need more help. This includes funding related to socioeconomic disadvantage, students with English as an additional language, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and students with disability.
• Operating costs: funding for costs such as educational resources, administration, energy, water and minor maintenance.
• Other funding: extra funding for specific programs such as preschool, transition and careers support, casual teachers, equity programs and new school allowances.

Schools manage both a staffing budget and an operational budget. Their operational budget can also include grants, and revenue raised by the school, such as income from hiring out school facilities.

This means each school’s budget will look different depending on its students and the school’s characteristics.

When are school budgets set?

School budgets are developed in two phases.

Schools first receive an indicative budget to help them plan for the following school year. A school’s final funding is then updated using actual student enrolments from the February school census.

Schools have received indicative budget information based on projected enrolments for 2027 and are working with the Education Directorate on their budgets and staffing plans. No ACT public school’s 2027 budget has been finalised yet.

Budget planning is a phased process occurring over the first 5 weeks of Term 4.

• Week 1 – schools provide feedback on their indicative budget, identifying any operational impacts and risks
• Week 2 to 5 – the directorate works with schools to assess their feedback and address any risks
• Week 3 to 4 – schools consult with staff on their proposed 2027 workforce profile and develop a school-specific risk assessment
• Week 5 – final projected budgets are expected to be available to schools.

Final funding for 2027 will be adjusted if a school’s actual enrolments in the February 2027 school census are significantly different from the enrolments used to develop its indicative budget.

What is changing in 2027 and why?

The way funding is distributed to ACT public schools is changing to make it fairer, more consistent and more closely based on student need.

The changes respond to the independent ACT Public School System Resourcing Review, which looked at how funding and resources are distributed across the public school system. The review identified areas where the current funding arrangements could better reflect changing and increasingly complex student needs, and recommended redistribution of resources across the system. It also recommended a full review of the SRA funding model.

While that broader review takes place, several changes are being made for 2027. These include:

• introducing a new Adjustments-Based Resourcing Model for students with disability, supported by an additional $25 million
• providing an additional $7 million to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
• maintaining funding for specialist schools, with an additional $7 million shared across specialist schools while their funding arrangements are reviewed
• making a small change to the stages of schooling weighting for colleges.

As a result, schools may experience changes to their budgets and may need to adjust in 2027.

The aim of these changes is to distribute funding more consistently according to student need, while keeping the public education system financially sustainable.

At this stage, no ACT public school’s final 2027 budget or staffing profile has been confirmed. The Education Directorate continues to work collaboratively across ACT public education throughout the budget process. Schools and central teams are working together to ensure decisions are informed by local context, operational requirements and the shared goal of improving outcomes for students.