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ABOUT THIS ELECTRONIC RELEASE

This electronic release contains statistics on expenditure on education by the general government sector for the period 1998-99 to 2003-04. They are presented on an accrual accounting basis and 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.


CHANGES IN THIS ELECTRONIC RELEASE

As foreshadowed in last year's release the content and layout of this release has been revised.

The calculation and presentation of Net Acquisition of Non-Financial Assets have been modified to coincide with the presentation that appears in the standard Operating Statement in Government Finance Statistics, Australia (cat. no. 5512.0).

The former Net Acquisition of Non-Financial Assets table by GPC (for each jurisdiction) has been replaced with a similar table showing Gross Fixed Capital Formation by purpose.

Details of Commonwealth Government Grants by GPC to individual jurisdictions are no longer included as part of each jurisdiction's set of tables. They have been amalgamated and are now presented as a single table (Table 18).

The former detailed individual year tables showing data for every jurisdiction have been replaced with a range of broader cross-jurisdiction summary tables, each presenting a six year time series and details of intra-sector transfers.

The ABS welcomes feedback from users on the new layout in the time series tables.


SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Government expenditure on education refers to expenditure on all levels of education, such as pre-school, primary, secondary, university, and technical and further education (TAFE), by the general government sector. It excludes expenditure on courses provided by non-educational institutions, such as the vocational training programs of private businesses.

The summary tables below present government operating expenses on education by level of government, by purpose (i.e. by type of education), and by economic transaction (i.e. by type of expenditure) for the period 1998-99 to 2003-04.

Government operating expenses on education by all levels of general government totalled $43,611m in 2003-04, $23,722m of which was spent on primary and secondary education and a further $16,081m on tertiary education (universities and TAFE). Employee expenses of $23,766m accounted for 54.5% of total educational expenses with the remaining 45.5% being on non-employee expenses ($10,283m), depreciation ($1,861m), and transfer expenses ($7,701m).

GOVERNMENT OPERATING EXPENSES ON EDUCATION, BY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT
	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
Commonwealth Government	9,681	9,959	10,970	11,769	12,109	13,398
State and Local Governments	22,650	23,814	25,300	27,273	29,526	31,251
Multi-jurisdictional (a)	8,289	8,654	9,258	9,993	11,124	11,718
Less: Intra-sector transfers	9,424	9,693	10,333	11,159	11,562	12,756
All Levels of Government	31,196	32,733	35,195	37,875	41,197	43,611

GOVERNMENT OPERATING EXPENSES ON EDUCATION, BY PURPOSE, ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT
	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
Primary and secondary education	17,221	18,293	19,465	20,815	22,417	23,722
Tertiary education	11,656	12,040	12,863	13,918	15,273	16,081
Pre-school & education not definable by level	1,273	1,313	1,451	1,511	1,562	1,736
Transportation of students	771	818	827	900	1,194	1,336
Education n.e.c.	275	268	589	731	751	736
Total	31,196	32,733	35,195	37,875	41,197	43,611

GOVERNMENT OPERATING EXPENSES ON EDUCATION, BY ECONOMIC TRANSACTION, ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT
	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
Employee expenses	17,867	18,449	19,604	20,649	22,637	23,766
Non-employee expenses	7,350	8,062	8,147	9,138	9,571	10,283
Depreciation of fixed assets	1,604	1,627	1,630	1,674	1,859	1,861
Current transfer expenses	4,232	4,484	5,657	6,252	6,983	7,487
Capital transfer expenses	144	110	157	163	147	214
Total	31,196	32,733	35,195	37,875	41,197	43,611