Government school funding in the Northern Territory

The Northern Territory (NT) Government is the primary funder of government schools.  The NT Government supports government schools through direct funding based on the School Resourcing Model and the provision of differentiated regional and system support and services.

Schools may also generate funds through fundraising, facility hire, educational supply sales, educational items, optional extras, voluntary contributions and grants.

School Resourcing Model

Under the School Resourcing Model (SRM) schools have flexibility and autonomy to decide how to use their resources. The model has three funding components:

1. Student Funding – this component meets the needs of students with various weightings for example year level, Aboriginality and English as an Additional Language or Dialect. This is determined using the Student Needs Based Funding Formula and is used to fund teachers, support staff and program costs.
2. Facility Funding – for the fixed costs of school operations like grounds maintenance, utilities and non-urgent minor repairs.
3. Targeted Funding – to separately fund department-approved programs:
   • driven by educational needs for a large number of schools for which there is currently no weighting within the Student Needs Based Funding Formula for those needs
   • for specific programs that are unique to individual schools, provided to a small group of schools or for programs that deliver services to schools.

Schools directly manage these three components and make decisions to utilise these resources to match student need, improve outcomes and use the funding provided for the current year’s cohort of students.

Centrally funded direct schools costs are administered and paid for centrally on behalf of schools. This covers direct school costs such as principals’ salaries, teacher remoteness allowances, teacher relocation costs, teacher housing and remote study leave.

Information on school funding.

Funding based on student need

Student needs based funding formula

Most school funding is directly allocated through an equitable student needs based funding formula. The formula provides a base amount for every government student (from preschool to secondary) with weightings for additional funding for students and schools with specific needs. For transition to year 12, this includes:

• year level
• students with socio-economic disadvantage
• Aboriginal status
• concentration of Aboriginal students at the school
• remoteness of school
• students with low English language skills
• school size
• distance education.

Student information is collected in August of each year and validated by principals, as part of the National August Census. The census information is used to create a student needs profile for the school from which the school’s average per student rate is calculated and communicated to schools in October. This informs the school’s School Resourcing Model funding for the following year.

Students with disability funding

Schools receive funding for students with a disability through the SRM in a number of different ways.

All mainstream schools receive funding based on the number of students requiring supplementary, substantial or extensive levels of adjustment under the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data for Students with Disability (NCCD) as captured in the Age Grade Census in August of the previous year. Additional funding is available through an application and assessment process for each eligible high-extensive student who requires complex, sustained and extensive adjustment to access education.

Mainstream schools also receive a flat rate of $720 for every full-time equivalent student to build the school’s capability in inclusive practices and meet the needs of all students, including those requiring Quality Differentiated Teaching Practice (QDTP) adjustments under the NCCD.

Special education schools and annexes are funded on a different model. They receive an annual targeted funding which is adjusted in semester 2 for movement in students.

Facility funding

Facility funding is provided for school operational costs such as electricity, water, telephone, cleaning and ground maintenance and non-urgent minor repairs.

Targeted funding

Targeted funding responds to individual students in addition to the student needs based funding.

Targeted funding programs include special education schools and centres (enrolling students with disability), intensive English units, and targeted programs driven by other educational needs not yet covered in the student needs based funding formula.

Centrally funded direct school costs

Central funding for school costs includes items such as principals’ salaries, teacher remoteness allowance, teacher relocation costs, teacher housing, remote study leave and teacher long service leave.

School funding

Schools receive their funding based on the SRM each year. To find your school’s funding enter your school’s name in the search below.

The per student rate is determined by the student needs specific to each school and based on validated student information at August of the previous year. Facility and targeted school funding is not included in the per student rate.

Please contact your school in the first instance for further information.

School generated funds

Schools also generate funds from fundraising, facility hire, educational supply sales, educational items, optional extras, voluntary contributions and grants.

Other components of the School Resourcing Package

Schools may also receive funding, services and support from the department centrally through:

• direct service delivery, particularly services to children and young people and communities
• enabling services by central and regional offices, such as administrative and management functions (e.g. finance, human resources, digital and data systems, governance processes, system design, strategy, policy, complaints management, professional development, operations and other corporate costs).

Northern Territory Government and Australian Government components of school funding

The NT Government is the main funder of government schools in the Territory.

Australian Government funding for schools in each state or territory is determined using the Schooling Resource Standard.

Northern Territory Government and Australian Government funding is distributed through the School Resourcing Package and the SRM. It includes both direct costs (e.g. teacher salary), and indirect costs (e.g. centrally managed services and support for schools).

Other published information

Information on the total resources (direct and indirect) provided to schools can be found on the MySchool website.

The MySchool website gives information about each of Australia’s schools. It includes a school’s student profile, NAPLAN performance, funding levels and sources based on expenditure, and other financial information as well as enrolment numbers and attendance rates.

The financial information is published for a completed calendar year.

Please contact your school for further information.