Increased funding has left private schools better able to attract teachers, public principals say

The finding that public school funding has not increased as much as private schools after Gonski is an ‘enormous disappointment’, the NSW principals’ council says. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

Increases in funding to the private education system have enabled it to attract teachers, despite a nationwide shortage, due to its ability to bump up salaries, according to the head of the New South Wales Secondary Principals’ Council.

Craig Petersen, who represents the principals of public schools across the state, said not only do public schools not have the budget to compete, but they were also restricted from lifting teachers’ salaries above the award wage.