The Federal Government’s Gonski Review of Funding for Schooling has attracted some attention for a bold recommendation in one of its commissioned reports that private schools should be forced to take on struggling students. The Courier-Mail has coverage here:

Schools may need to take on underperforming students to ensure funding, report says

The relevant recommendation, well really a thought bubble, from one of the commissioned reports (Schooling Challenges and Opportunities) is:

…there ought to be some pressure on [selective] schools to take on more under-performing students and demonstrate their quality through student performance over and above what would have been expected from past performance. This may mean restructuring some or all of the public subsidies so that they are retrospective and ‘reward-based’.

This is an interesting idea, but no consideration is given to how it would be implemented and how public funding can be made retrospective and reward-based in a way that doesn’t cause uncertainty and doesn’t appear arbitrary. It will be too hard for public servants and ministerial advisers to make this idea work. Hence, I don’t think private schools have any reason to worry.