Which government level is responsible for running public schools? (variant 17) (17)

Public schools in Australia are run primarily by state and territory governments under their education ministries and departments. Each state and territory operates its own public school system, sets curriculum within national frameworks, employs teachers, owns and maintains school buildings, and is the main funder of public education.

Government schools educate about 65 per cent of Australian students. Catholic schools, run by the Catholic Education Office in each diocese, educate about 20 per cent. Independent schools (including Anglican, Uniting Church, Jewish, Islamic, Steiner, Montessori, and many independent schools without religious affiliation) educate about 15 per cent. State departments of education are responsible for running public schools, including NSW Department of Education (more than 2,200 schools), Victoria Department of Education (about 1,560 schools), Queensland Department of Education (about 1,250 schools), South Australia Department for Education (about 880 schools), Western Australia Department of Education (about 800 schools), Tasmania Department for Education, Children and Young People (about 190 schools), ACT Education Directorate (about 90 schools), and Northern Territory Department of Education (about 150 schools).

Funding for schools is shared between federal and state governments under the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) framework. The federal government funds about 20 per cent of public school costs and about 80 per cent of non-government (Catholic and independent) school costs. State governments fund about 80 per cent of public school costs and contribute smaller amounts to non-government schools. Federal funding growth was set under the Gonski reforms of 2013 and subsequent updates.

Curriculum is national. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) develops the national curriculum, the National Assessment Programme Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) standardised tests, and the My School website that publishes school performance data. Each state and territory implements the curriculum through its own education department. The national curriculum covers English, mathematics, science, humanities and social sciences, languages, the arts, technologies, health and physical education, and Asian and Indigenous cross-curriculum priorities. About 4 million Australian students attend schools across the three sectors, supported by about 300,000 teachers.