Archbishop urges revolt on chaplains
Perth Anglican Archbishop Roger Herft has urged religious schools not to take funding for school chaplains from the Federal Government because he says public schools have a greater need.
In a letter he sent to church leaders last week, Archbishop Herft said the funding provided to WA under the Government's new National School Chaplaincy Program was $1.45 million a year less than under the previous model.
"It appears that whatever formula was used to distribute funding from the new NSCP across all three school sectors has resulted in a severe cutback to the public sector," he said.
"I understand that out of almost 500 public schools that applied for the new NSCP funding, only 247 were successful."
Archbishop Herft said the allocation to private schools had increased slightly, to 114.
"Having seen the list of all successful schools, the distribution seems to be somewhat unfair," he said.
"I earnestly request the Christian-based independent sector to consider if we should be taking this funding, on the proviso that the funding is reallocated to the public sector. "
Archbishop Herft said though all school sectors needed chaplains, there was little doubt about the "high need" for chaplaincy in public schools. Anglican Schools Commission board chairwoman Barbara Godwin said it would consider the Archbishop's request at its next meeting in February.
Catholic Education executive director Tim McDonald said all sectors received funding in proportion to the number of students they served and based on the schools judged to have the greatest need.
"The need for chaplaincy support services is not restricted to a particular postcode, nor limited to schools within the government sector," he said.
Dr McDonald said funding for next year was targeted at 54 schools out of a total 162 Catholic schools.
"As part of the cross-sectoral collaboration and a shared desire to target funds at those in greatest need, it was agreed that any unused funds were to be returned to the Education Department," he said.
"In 2014, $200,000 was returned by Catholic Education."
