Education

WA's school budget grew about $1bn in real terms, but the state's own spending per public school student is flat since 2016-17. Spending on non-teaching staff and head office grew roughly 9 times faster than spending on teachers, and attendance fell.

Sources: Productivity Commission Report on Government Services (ROGS) 2026, Section 4 School education dataset (tables 4A.1, 4A.4, 4A.17, 4A.32) and section page. All ROGS dollar figures are real (inflation-adjusted) 2023-24 dollars.

Findings

1. The money went up and Canberra paid most of the increase

Updated 13 Oct 2026

Fact: Total real government recurrent spending on WA public schools went from $6.394bn (2016-17) to $7.430bn (2023-24), up 16.2% (ROGS 4A.1).
Fact: Over the same period, the WA Government's own share rose from $5.662bn to $6.204bn (+9.6%), while Commonwealth payments rose from $732m to $1.226bn (+67%) (ROGS 4A.1).
Our read: Almost half of the real increase ($494m of $1.036bn, or 48%) came from Canberra, not from WA's record surpluses.

2. WA's own spending per public school student hasn't risen in seven years

Updated 13 Oct 2026

Fact: Real WA-state spending per FTE public school student was $20,689 in 2016-17 and $20,632 in 2023-24 (ROGS 4A.32). In 2014-15 it was $21,965.
Fact: Combined (state plus Commonwealth) spending per student rose only 5.8% in WA ($23,364 to $24,709), against 23.5% nationally ($21,172 to $26,140). WA went from above the national average to $1,431 below it (ROGS 4A.32).
Our read: Based on total spend divided by spend per student, enrolments grew about 10% (roughly 274k to 301k FTE). The state's funding kept pace with headcount and nothing more, during the biggest revenue boom in WA history.

3. Teachers got +3.8%, everyone else got +33%

Updated 13 Oct 2026

Fact: Real public school spending on teachers went from $3.103bn to $3.222bn (+3.8%). Spending on other staff went from $1.128bn to $1.507bn (+33.6%), and out-of-school spending (central and regional office) went from $228.7m to $300.7m (+31.5%) (ROGS 4A.4, 2016-17 to 2023-24).
Our read: With enrolments up about 10%, real teacher spending per student fell. The growth is in support, administrative and head-office costs.

4. Results: attendance down, Year 3 below the nation

Updated 13 Oct 2026

Fact: Attendance in WA public schools (Years 1-10) fell from 91.1% (2016) to 86.9% (2025), below the national 87.6% (ROGS 4A.17).
Fact: In 2025 NAPLAN, 9.8% of WA public Year 9 students needed additional support in reading and 11.1% in numeracy (WA DoE NAPLAN 2025 summary).
Fact: As reported by The West Australian, across all WA sectors 13.9% of Year 3 students needed additional support in reading, up from 11.3% two years earlier, and 37.6% did not meet the expected standard in reading (The West Australian, 30 Jul 2025). The national Year 3 reading figure was 10.8% (ACARA, 30 Jul 2025).
Our read: More money and more staff, but no measurable improvement. NAPLAN was reset in 2023, so pre-2023 comparisons aren't valid.

4b. Signed the funding deal, but skipping the Numeracy Check

Updated 13 Oct 2026

Fact: WA signed the Better and Fairer Schools (Full and Fair Funding) Heads of Agreement on 31 Jan 2025 and its bilateral agreement on 27 Jun 2025 (Department of Education).
Fact: Federal Education Minister Jason Clare told Parliament that "All States and Territories, except Western Australia, will now pilot or roll out a Numeracy Check this year" (Minister Clare, statement to Parliament).
Our read: WA took the funding deal but is the only jurisdiction not trialling a national early check on numeracy.

5. The teacher pipeline is shrinking

Updated 13 Oct 2026

Fact: Completions of WA initial teacher education degrees went from 2,792 (2017) to 2,205 (2023), down 21%. Commencements went from 4,964 to 3,814 (ROGS 4A.31).

6. Auditor General: school reviews are "self-assessed"

Updated 13 Oct 2026

Fact: OAG (May 2023) found that apart from attendance and NAPLAN data, all information in a Public School Review "is provided by the principal and is not verified". Principals choose which staff, students and parents are interviewed. The OAG also found a growing review backlog and noted that the Department markets the reviews as "assurance" they don't provide (OAG, Effectiveness of Public School Reviews).
Fact: OAG (Aug 2021) found that school maintenance runs through the Department of Finance and Programmed Facility Management. Finance did not check the quality or safety of work, and Education said it was concerned about value for money. The OAG found 349 potential duplicate invoices (one paid twice) and 6,436 potential duplicate work orders, staff approving payments to suppliers they had declared conflicts with, and contractors doing work at staff homes (OAG, Public Building Maintenance). The Programmed link is also on the Donations page.
Balance: the OAG ranked Education among the "best practice" large entities for financial controls in 2025 (OAG 2025 financial audit results), and found the $250-per-student WA Student Assistance Payment was administered accurately (OAG).

7. Re-announcements: one school, five press releases

Updated 13 Oct 2026

Fact: The $165m East Perth Primary School was announced in media statements on 28 Jan 2025 (1), 20 May 2025 (2), 30 Sep 2025 (3), 25 Mar 2026 (4) and 12 Sep 2026 (5). A contractor was "appointed to start works" in Sep 2025, yet the construction tender was "awarded" a year later.
Fact: Our log of 6,706 media statements has 387 education-portfolio statements since Jan 2023 (our log of WA Government media statements).