TAS defends its receipt of a multimillion JobKeeper payment

The independent school received $3.5 million in support payments for staff during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and turned over a surplus of $1.9 million the same year.

In a statement released by Save Our Schools, national convenor of the group Trevor Cobbold said 33 NSW private schools received $72 million in JobKeeper payments in 2020 while making profits of $75 million.

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"Every school made a profit with JobKeeper, and all except two increased their profits over the previous year," the statement reads.

"NSW private schools have been showered with funds by the Commonwealth and NSW governments over the past decade while public schools have been denied adequate funding."

A spokesperson for The Armidale School (one of the largest independent boarding schools in NSW) said the payment stopped many of its staff from being stood down.

"Boarders make up 50 per cent of our students in years 7 - 12," they said.

"The school's fee income was directly affected by the mandated lockdown in 2020 when our boarders were sent home, and boarding fees could not be charged.

"Many of our staff whose employment was directly linked to boarding (residential supervision, catering, laundry, housekeeping and medical staff, for example) would have been stood down if it were not for JobKeeper.

The school said payments received funded the wages of staff affected by the lockdown.

"As a result, we did not have to stand down any employees," the spokesperson said.

"The effect of significant job losses on a regional city like Armidale, recovering as it was from drought and bush fires, could have been potentially disastrous."

The independent schools' sector accounts for almost 20 per cent of all high school students in Australia and employs 17 per cent of the total teacher workforce and many more when support and administrative staff are included.

"These are significant numbers, and the impact of job losses on the Australian economy significant enough for the Federal government to include these schools in the eligibility criteria for JobKeeper payments," the TAS spokesperson said.

"To qualify for JobKeeper, businesses had to prove at least 30 per cent of their income would be lost due to COVID-19, and each business was assessed by the ATO to qualify."

Mr Cobbold said every school made a profit with JobKeeper, and all except two increased their earnings over the previous year.

"Some of the state's most privileged schools got four to eight million and made millions in profits," he said.

"Just ten schools got $46.5 million and made $44 million in profits."

The Armidale School said the period of lockdown reduced normal annual operating expenditure (such as energy expenses) and deferred normal capital project expenditure, which affected the school's reported profit margin.

"TAS is a not-for-profit business that does not make a profit like a commercial business does," the spokesperson said.

"For prudent financial management reasons, TAS tries to generate a small but meaningful annual operating surplus, which is reported as a profit and used for capital works.

"The finances of independent schools are reported publicly on the MySchool website and in the annual reports to ASIC and the Australian Charities and not-for-profits Commission as well as the Federal Department of Education, Skills and Employment."

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