To be outraged most schools in Queensland Australia have no airconditioning.

[Mammasmitten]

I live in Queensland, Australia and for most of the year it is an average temperature of 30 degrees celsius or higher. Summer is insanely hot. My DD is due to start school next year and I am seriously researching homeschool options as I just can't make her sit all day in a stinking hot classroom risking heatstroke and other heat related illnesses. AIBU to be angry that despite a decade of petitioning, teachers and students are denied cooling for their classrooms and are expected to work in extreme heat. Our prisons are air-conditioned, why the hell aren't our schools.

Private schools in Australia do actually receive government funding (from tax).

Yes, it essentially works the same way as the health system here. Everyone (public and private) is entitled to the base government funding via tax. Then if you want to pay extra yourself on top of your basic hobby funded entitlement you can go private whether it be health or education.

It’s fair. I pay a shed load of tax. If I choose to be treated privately I expect the same things to be covered as if I was in the public system - given I contribute tax to fund the health system. If I wish to pay extra to ensure a private room etc then power to me. Same for education. I expect the government to fund my children’s education with my tax $$$. If I wish to pay extra out of my pocket for additional frills at a private school then power to me.

The public/private thing for schools becomes a bit moot anyway. A lot of public schools are better resourced than lower fee private schools and it’s very area dependant. For example my kids went to a public school. Friends kids went private. Our public school had smaller class sizes, more resources and better facilities. No thanks to govnt funding but due to the large amount raised by P&C each year which was obviously considerably over and above the ‘additional’ amount the private received by parents via fees. When talking with different people over the years it’s not uncommon. Obviously it’s not going to be common when comparing yourself to the upper tier 35k/year private schools but even then I don’t see why those kids are not entitled to their base govnt funding given their parents are taxpayers. If their parents want to pay a lot extra for tennis courts and rowing sheds that’s their perogative.

*govnt not hobby.....

It was 42° outside where I teach today. I was on playground duty and it was pretty hideous (the temp has just shot up so it's a bit of a shock after several months in the low 30s!). I cannot imagine not having a well air-conditioned school building to go and recover in.
We are nearly at the point of indoor breaks due to heat/humidity - if indoors wasn't cooler we'd all expire! (Workplaces/schools only close at 50° here)

PenelopeFlintstone I was more or less responding to echt’s blanket statement that seemed to imply that private schools are fully funded by taxes - which of course, they are not.

I see. Yep, that's right.