Educational Funding and Equity in South African Schools

Abstract

Since the advent of democracy in 1994, government has pursued equity in education in the context of limited public finances. While discrimination in so- cial spending has been considerably reduced, spending inequalities remain because of the high costs required to achieve fiscal parity in education. In schooling, far- reaching finance equity mechanisms have been put in place, yet increased fiscal in- puts are not translating into performance outcomes. Questions persist about whether the current equity approach is adequate, and whether differential redistribution has taken place. Through an analysis of large data sets, policy and quantitative review, the paper examines four major themes which cut across the schooling sector. These include: fee free schooling; education as a public and private good ;the relationship between social equity and education equity; expansion, equity and quality; and eq- uitable funding models and approaches. It is argued that differential redistribution must define our equity approach, and in the context of limited fiscal resources, new approaches are proposed to ensure that a pro poor strategy is achieved