Public schools have long been under-funded for the learning challenges they face. In 2024, they were only funded at an average of 88% of their Schooling Resource Standard across Australia. By contrast, private schools were over-funded on average at 104% of their SRS.
The prime minister and education minister promised that the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement will fully fund public schools by 2034. This has already proved to be a false promise. New bilateral funding agreements with the New South Wales, Queensland, South Australian, Western Australian and Tasmanian Governments reveal that public schools will not be funded at 100% of their SRS by 2034 despite a significant planned boost in funding over the decade.
For Primary school it is less of an issue. What you do at home is more important than which particular school they attend. Read to them every night, have them read to you every night. Do spelling exercises each week. Be careful about what TV you put them in front of (Numberblocks good, Youtube bad) etc.
For High School, we went with the “move to good school catchment” method. It has worked out well for us, but damn is it expensive.