Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]


STATES GRANTS (PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSISTANCE) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2003 (NO. 1) 2003 NO. 277

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Statutory Rules 2003 No. 277

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Science

States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 2000

States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Amendment Regulations 2003 (No. 1)

The States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 2000 (the Act) provides for the payment of financial assistance to government and non-government schools for recurrent expenditure and specific purposes for the 2001 to 2004 calendar years, and for capital expenditure for the 2001 to 2004 calendar years.

Subsection 118(1) of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out, or giving effect to the Act.

The purpose of the Regulations is to supplement funding for primary and secondary education, through adjustments to recurrent grants and capital grants for both government and non-government schools for 2003 and 2004 in line with the changes in the Average Government School Costs (AGSC).

Subsection 102(1) of the Act allows the regulations to specify an amount to replace the Average Government School Recurrent Costs (AGSRC) specified in Schedule 1 to the Act for a program year. Subsection 102(3) of the Act requires the Minister to consider changes in the AGSC, published from time to time by the Ministerial Council of Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), before the Governor-General makes regulations specifying an amount to replace the AGSRC amount for a program year.

Since the AGSC figures rise as the cost of educating a student in a government school increases, and grants under the Act are set up to four years in advance, the Act provides a mechanism to adjust the amount of financial assistance to account for this.

The initial financial assistance amounts are set out in the schedules to the Act. However, subsection 105(1) of the Act provides that each recurrent amount for a program year, set out in certain schedules to the Act, is scheduled for the program year by the amount worked out using the formula, "Recurrent amount x Recurrent number for the program year" where "recurrent number for the program year" means either (a) 1, or (b) a number for the program year set out in the regulations. Similarly, subsection 106(1) of the Act provides that each capital amount for a program year, set out in certain schedules to the Act, is replaced by the amount worked out using the formula "Capital number x Capital number for the program year" where "capital number for the program year" means either (a) 1, or (b) a number for the program year set out in the regulations. In this way the regulations can modify scheduled recurrent and capital amounts of financial assistance by prescribing a multiplier for a program year.

Subsection 105(4) of the Act requires the Minister to consider changes in AGSC figures published from time to time by the MCEETYA before the Governor-General makes regulations providing for adjustments to recurrent grants. Subsection 106(3) also requires the Minister to consider changes in an index of building materials prices and an index of wage costs published from time to time by the Australian Statistician, before the Governor-General makes regulations providing for adjustments to capital grants for government and non-government schools.

The Regulations replaces the AGSRC amounts specified in Schedule 1 of the Act, and prescribe the recurrent number and the capital number for the program years 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. Only the amounts for 2003 and 2004 would be increased - those for 2001 and 2002 would remain at their previously prescribed levels.

The effect of the Regulations is to provide an additional $387.2 million in 2003 and an additional $807.6 million for the 2001-2004 quadrennium over the legislated amounts for the General Recurrent Grants, Grants of Transitional Emergency Assistance for Non-government Schools, Grants for Establishment Assistance and Grants for Targeted Assistance and for the Capital Grants program.

The Regulations commenced on gazettal.


[Index] [Related Items] [Search] [Download] [Help]