By Robyn Grace
What is the School Saving Bonus?
The new School Saving Bonus will be announced as part of the Victorian budget to deliver $287 million to help with school uniforms, camps, sports and other school costs.
Who is eligible?
Every child at a Victorian public school and eligible concession cardholders at non-government schools will be eligible for the payments.
The payment will not apply to other students at Catholic and independent schools.
How much will students get?
It is a one-off, $400 payment.
The bonus will be applied for each child but can be spent per family – so a family with three school children will receive $1200 to spend on school costs.
How many students will benefit?
The payments will be delivered through schools to about 700,000 students across the state.
How will it work?
Support will be provided in two ways: as a credit towards the cost of participating in activities in school, and vouchers for families to use to buy school uniforms.
Education Minister Ben Carroll said on Tuesday there would be no application process. All payments would be done electronically with no paperwork involved.
“This will be a direct credit to family’s accounts at the school,” he said.
Is it a cash payment?
Cash will not be paid directly to individuals or families but will instead be received as a credit on the family account at each school to help meet the cost of activities and vouchers to assist with buying school uniforms. Consultation with schools will be undertaken to ensure that the selection of approved providers is aligned with relevant suppliers of a school’s uniform range.
Is it means tested?
The School Saving Bonus is not means tested for public students. The bonus is available to all government school students and all non-government school students eligible for the existing camps, sports and excursions fund.
When will it be paid?
The bonus will be provided during term 4, making sure families have time to plan and budget for the 2025 school year. The government says it will release more details in term 3.
Does this replace other assistance?
The School Saving Bonus builds on existing means-tested support for families doing it tough with school costs. It will be applied on top of those measures for families eligible for other support.
Why not introduce it now?
The measure will assist families with upfront costs as they enter the 2025 school year. Premier Jacinta Allan said it would make no sense to bring it in straight away when families had already paid for expensive items such as uniforms and excursions for the current school year.
“I know that families often wait for the start of a new school year to make those bigger purchases around uniforms,” she said.
Who misses out?
The payment will not apply to students at Catholic and independent schools who don’t already qualify for the existing camps, sports and excursions fund.
The Victorian Catholic Education Authority said the government was “punishing” hardworking Catholic families, excluding the vast majority of them from the bonus.
Acting chief executive Bruce Phillips said under the announced policy, parents with a child in a government school in Canterbury, which had a median house price in 2022 of $3.49 million, would receive $400 per child, while more than 70 per cent of Catholic school families in Melton, with a 2022 median house price of $500,000, would miss out.
“We believe the payment should apply to all students or should be means tested for all students,” he said. “It should not be based on which school you attend.”
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