School chaplain cuts blamed on State
The Federal Government has blamed the Barnett Government for a decision to cut chaplains from nearly 100 public schools while giving more funding to private schools.
School leaders were told yesterday that 247 public schools in WA would get a chaplain under the National School Chaplaincy funding agreement, down from about 345 this year, and the number of private schools getting a chaplain would increase from about 25 to 114.
Under the agreement, States had to set up a panel from public, Catholic and independent sectors to select which schools would receive up to $20,000 a year for a chaplain. The Federal Government said the States had not been directed where to spend the money.
The WA panel decided that funding should be allocated based on the percentage of the total student population in each sector.
