    Tide of inequity to blame for falling education results
David Gillespie  "Because such a large proportion of government
education spending is diverted to fund private choices, the
public schools become progressively more and more decrepit."
"Because such a large proportion of government education
spending is diverted to fund private choices, the public schools
become progressively more and more decrepit." Photo: Louise
Kennerley  Education is a very big line item in state and
federal budgets. Thanks to incessant demands for smaller
classes, it is getting bigger at an astounding rate. But rather
than address the obviously impaired state of our education
system, the government's plan is to send you the bill.  In
2011-12, Australian governments spent a tad over $47 billion on
running the country's schools. But only three-quarters of that
went to government-owned schools. The remaining $10 billion or
so went to ''private'' (Catholic and independent) schools.
Governments are not normally big fans of throwin