My School 2.0 Now Live - with School Financial Data

March 2011 The public’s window into Australian schools – the My School website – has entered its next phase with My School 2.0 live on 4 March.

For the first time, the funding a school receives to deliver education to its students will be available for everyone to see, including school capital and recurrent income from the Commonwealth Government, the State Government, school fees and other contributions, plus changes in student performance over time.

School Education Minister Peter Garrett today said the government’s efforts for greater school transparency and richer data will extend beyond the improvements available in My School 2.0 on Friday, as the site continues to evolve.

Mr Garrett will ask the national Education Ministerial Council (MCEECDYA) to seek further advice on how school assets – for all schools – such as financial assets like trust accounts, term deposits, or investment portfolios as well as physical assets could be captured and presented to the community as the My School website evolves.

Mr Garrett also believes more can be done to empower school principals to provide greater contextual information about their school and MCEECDYA and ACARA will also be asked to consider a future function on the site designed specifically to allow principals to do this.

The purpose of this function would be to give principals the ability to make additional comments around their own school’s results and to provide more locally relevant context to their school community.

Mr Garrett said it was important to continue striving for even greater transparency to ensure parents and the public continue getting the most useful data possible.

"My School 2.0 will provide information on every school in Australia, giving parents and the public access to performance and financial data on our schools – information that has previously only been available to education bureaucrats or school authorities,” Mr Garrett said.

Improvements:

1.School profile includes expanded commentary and more information such as enrolments, attendance rates, staff numbers

2. School financial data is now available, including recurrent income and capital expenditure.

3. NAPLAN results ar now included as well as student progress information on these tests.

4. Schools now sorted according to background of students they serve.

5. Socieoconomic calculations have been changed due to past inaccuracies.

Link: My School 2.0

Related articles:

SMH: Financial Data to be on My School Website

Daily Telegraph: School Website to Reveal Class War

Leader: Parents Want More than Just My School Figures

SMH: My School Still Wrong: Private Schools