Schooling Resource Standard

What is the SRS and what is it used for?

The Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) is an estimate of how much total public funding a school needs to meet its students’ educational needs. It is based on recommendations made in the 2011 Review of Funding for Schooling led by Mr David Gonski AC. It is made up of a base amount and up to 6 needs-based loadings.

The Department of Education (the Department) calculates an SRS for each school every year by adding the base amount and loadings it has calculated for the school using the formulas in the Australian Education Act 2013. The SRS is increased each year by the SRS indexation factor.

The SRS is the basis of the Commonwealth’s recurrent funding arrangements. In 2024, reflecting the established responsibilities for school funding, the Commonwealth funds at least 20 per cent of each government school’s SRS and 80 per cent of each non-government school’s SRS.

The SRS is also used in the National School Reform Agreement to describe state and territory funding contributions for schools.

SRS base amount

The SRS base amount is calculated by multiplying the number of students enrolled at the school for the year by the SRS funding amount for the school for the year. For most non‑government schools, the SRS base amount is reduced by the school’s Capacity to Contribute (CTC).

In 2024, the estimated SRS funding amounts are $13,557 for primary students and $17,036 for secondary students. These amounts were established in 2018 by analysing funding levels in schools which had at least 80 per cent of students achieving above the national minimum standard in NAPLAN for reading and numeracy for 3 years in a row. The SRS funding amounts are indexed each year by the SRS indexation factor to keep up with costs.

The Commonwealth will provide an estimated $21.1 billion in base funding for schools in 2024.

SRS loadings

The SRS loadings provide additional funding for student priority cohorts and disadvantaged schools. A school’s SRS can include up to 4 student-based loadings and 2 school-based loadings. Loadings are not affected by capacity to contribute.

The 4 student-based loadings are the:

• student with disability loading
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander loading
• socio-educational disadvantage loading
• low-English proficiency loading.

A student may attract funding under more than one loading.

The 2 school-based loadings are for:

• School size
• School location.

The Department calculates the loadings for each school each year.

Student with disability loading

This loading provides extra funding, in addition to the SRS base amount, for students with disability. Students attracting the funding under this loading might also attract funding under other SRS loadings.

The loading amount for a school depends on the numbers of students receiving additional support in the classroom to enable them to participate fully in school, and the level of that additional support.

The loading calculation uses information reported in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). This information is provided by teachers and other classroom professionals who use their professional, evidence‑based judgement to indicate the level of additional support a student is provided in the classroom.

Students who require the top 3 levels of additional support, known as extensive, substantial and supplementary, attract additional funding through the students with disability loading.

The NCCD captures a fourth level of support defined as 'support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice'. This is support provided within the classroom as part of standard teaching practice which is responsive to the needs of all students and delivered without the need for additional funding.

The student with disability loading is about 12.4 per cent of total Australian Government recurrent funding in 2024.

The Commonwealth will provide an estimated $3.6 billion under the student with disability loading in 2024.

To find out more information about the support provided for students with disability, go to Students with disability.

Table 1 shows the estimated 2024 student with disability loading by NCCD level of adjustment.

Table 1: Estimated 2024 student with disability SRS loading by NCCD level of adjustment¹

	Estimated SRS funding amount in 2024	Supplementary	Substantial	Extensive
Primary student	$13,557	42% ($5,694)	146% ($19,793)	312% ($42,298)
Secondary student	$17,036	33% ($5,622)	116% ($19,762)	248% ($42,249)

1. Note: The figures in the table show the full loading amounts included to calculate a school’s SRS. In 2024, the Commonwealth will pay at least 20 per cent of each government school’s SRS and at least 80 per cent of each non-government school’s SRS.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander loading

This loading provides extra funding, in addition to the SRS base amount, for each Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student. Students attracting the funding under this loading might also attract funding under other SRS loadings.

The amount of extra funding for each student increases as the proportion of First Nations students attending the school increases. If there is a single First Nations student in the school, the loading is 20 per cent of the SRS funding amount. The percentage increases as the percentage of First Nations students at the school increases. If 100 per cent of the students in the school are First Nations students, the loading is 120 per cent of the SRS funding amount.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander loading accounts for about 1.9 per cent of Australian Government recurrent school funding expenditure in 2024.

The Commonwealth will provide an estimated $0.5 billion under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander loading in 2024.

Socio‑educational disadvantage loading

This loading provides extra funding, in addition to the SRS base amount, for each student from a socio‑educationally disadvantaged background. Students attracting the funding under this loading might also attract funding under other SRS loadings.

The loading amount is based on the percentage of students in the lowest 2 quartiles of socio‑educational advantage (SEA) developed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). The SEA measures the occupational and educational status of students' parents by looking at factors like occupation, completed school education and highest level of post‑school education.

The greater the percentage of a school's students in each of the bottom 2 quartiles of the SEA, the higher the loading, up to a maximum of 50 per cent of the SRS funding amount for Quartile 1 and 37.5 per cent for Quartile 2.

The socio‑educational disadvantage loading is about 9.5 per cent of Commonwealth recurrent school funding expenditure in 2024.

The Commonwealth will provide an estimated $2.8 billion under the socio-educational disadvantage loading in 2024.

Note: The calculation of the socio‑educational disadvantage loading is unrelated to the methodology used to determine a non‑government school's CTC score.

Low English language proficiency loading

This loading provides extra funding, in addition to the SRS base amount, for students from a language background other than English where at least one parent has completed school education only to Year 9 (or equivalent) or below. This may include recently settled migrants and refugees.

Students attracting the funding under this loading might also attract funding under other SRS loadings.

The loading is 10 per cent of the SRS funding amount.

The loading is calculate using data provided by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

The low English language proficiency loading is about 0.2 per cent of total Australian Government recurrent school funding expenditure in 2024.

The Commonwealth will provide an estimated $68.8 million under the low English language proficiency loading in 2024.

School size loading

This loading provides extra funding for medium, small and very small schools. It recognises smaller schools cannot achieve the same efficiencies of scale as a large school. This is the only loading that is calculated as a set dollar amount (rather than as a proportion of the SRS funding amount).

Primary schools with up to 300 students and secondary schools with up to 700 students attract a size loading. The size loading is scaled:

• Primary schools with between 15 and 200 students attract the maximum loading. This is estimated to be $213,799 in 2024.
• Secondary schools with between 100 and 500 students attract the maximum loading. This is estimated to be $342,081 in 2024.

The school size loading is about 1.5 per cent of Commonwealth recurrent school funding expenditure in 2024.

The Commonwealth will provide an estimated $0.4 billion under the school size loading in 2024.

School location loading

This loading provides extra funding for schools in regional and remote locations. It recognises it generally costs more to educate students in regional and remote schools than in city‑based schools.

Students attracting the funding under this loading might also attract funding under other SRS loadings.

The loading is based on a school’s Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) score, a measure of the remoteness or accessibility of every location in Australia, as a percentage the SRS funding amount and the school's size loading.

The location loading is about 2.1 per cent of Commonwealth recurrent school funding expenditure in 2024.

The Commonwealth will provide an estimated $0.6 billion under the school location loading in 2024.

Capacity to Contribute

Capacity to Contribute (CTC) reduces the SRS base amount for most non-government schools. CTC is a measure of the capacity of the parents and guardians of students at a non-government school to contribute financially to the operating costs of the school relative to the capacity at other non-government schools.

The CTC reduction does not apply to the SRS loadings, or to the SRS for government schools, special schools, special assistance schools, majority Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander schools and sole provider schools.

The size of the CTC reduction depends on the school’s CTC score, which is calculated by the Department each year.

The CTC reduction ranges from 10 per cent of the SRS base amount for non‑government schools with the lowest capacity to contribute to 80 per cent for non‑government schools with the highest capacity to contribute. The CTC scores and percentages are set out under section 54 of the Australian Education Act 2013.

More information about capacity to contribute scores can be found at: Schooling Resource Standard’s Capacity to Contribute.

SRS indexation factor

The SRS base amount and loadings are indexed each year to reflect changes in prices and, therefore, the costs faced by schools.

The SRS indexation factor for a year is the higher of 3% or a factor calculated by the Department each year from movements in the Wage Price Index and Consumer Price Index published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

This approach provides certainty for schools with a minimum increase in the SRS base amount and loadings each year, as well as ensuring funding keeps up with changes in wages and other costs.

The SRS indexation factor for 2023 is 4.2 per cent. The indexation rate for 2024 is expected to be available after 13 August 2024.

More information about the SRS indexation factor, including indexation projections for future years, can be found at: How is school funding indexed?