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SUMMARY OF FINDINGS


TOTAL GOVERNMENT EXPENSES AND TOTAL PRIVATE EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION

For education, total operating expenses increased by 5.3% from $32,335m in 1998-99 to $34,035m in 1999-2000. As a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), total expenses on education remained steady at 5.4%.

Private expenditure (final consumption expenditure plus gross fixed capital formation) on education increased by 6.3% from $9,006m in 1998-99 to $9,575m in 1999-2000 and remained steady at 1.5% of GDP.


TOTAL GOVERNMENT EDUCATION EXPENSES

For education, the largest component of total operating expenses in 1999-2000 was employee expenses of $18,472m. This comprised 54.3% of total expenses on education. The major part of this item was wages and salaries ($16,301m).


TOTAL GOVERNMENT EDUCATION EXPENSES BY TYPE OF EDUCATION

For all Australian governments in 1999-2000, primary and secondary education operating expenses were $18,455m which accounted for 54.2% of total education expenses. Total operating expenses on tertiary education were $13,173m accounting for 38.7% of total education expenses with university education accounting for 71.2% of the total amount spent on tertiary education.


COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT EDUCATION EXPENSES

Total operating expenses on education by the Commonwealth Government in 1999-2000 were $10,299m with $7,787m (75.6%) comprising grants to other levels of government (including universities). The next largest component of Commonwealth education expenses were current transfers to households of $1,800m which accounted for 17.5% of total Commonwealth Government expenses on education.


EXPLANATORY NOTES


INTRODUCTION

1 This Special Data Service (SDS) replaces the previous publication Government Finance Statistics, Education, Australia (Cat. no. 5518.0.48.001) and contains education statistics for 1998-99 and 1999-00. These data are presented on an accrual accounting basis. Summary information relating to private expenditure on education for 1998-99 and 1999-00 is also included.

2 The emphasis in this SDS is largely on public sector expenses which reflects, in part, the relative importance of that sector in the provision of education services.

3 The data relating to the public sector are taken from the system of Government Finance Statistics (GFS), which is designed to provide statistical information on public sector entities classified in a uniform and systematic way. GFS enable policy makers and other users to analyse the financial operations and the financial position of the public sector at either the level of a specific government, sector or a particular set of transactions. The system is based on international standards set out in the System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA93) and the draft accrual version of the International Monetary Fund's A Manual on Government Finance Statistics.

4 In relation to education, GFS include the following for the various components of the Australian public sector:

• details of transactions in GFS operating revenues and GFS operating expenses; and

• expenditure on non-financial assets (net).

• operating expenses;

• net acquisition of non-financial assets;

• sales of goods and services; and

• grants.

• Economic Type Framework for GFS (ETF): this classification is the main classification of stocks and flows. The ETF resembles a set of financial statements, with sections for an operating statement, a cash flow statement and a balance sheet. In addition, there are sections which cater for the reconciliation of accounting net operating result measures with cash flows from operating activities and to capture items like assets acquired under finance leases, intra-unit transfers, and revaluations and other changes in the volume of assets; and

• Government Purpose Classification (GPC): this classification is used to group expenses with similar functions to facilitate the study of the broad purposes of public sector spending.