“That ICPA Qld lobbies the Minister for Education and Department of Education to approve individual non-state boarding schools in neighbouring states including South Australia to be eligible for the Living Away from Home Allowance (LAFHA) – Remote Area Tuition Allowance.”
LAFHAS Remote Area Tuition Allowance “benefits students who are geographically isolated who reside in QLD and is paid for students who board at approved non-state primary or secondary schools and whose parents pay fees for tuition at the school”. Currently QLD non-state and certain NSW non-state schools are considered approved schools for this allowance to be paid however schools in neighbouring states including South Australia are not. There are remote families living on the QLD/SA border that would prefer to send their children away to boarding school in SA due to reasons including easier access to transport for their children and closer family support for their children who are away from home for the first time. Adelaide, SA has less than 10 boarding schools and given the vastness of stations on the QLD/SA border, this will only result in a very small number of families that may choose this option.
A further consideration must be given to the distances families and students must travel to attend a boarding school. For example, the difference to one-member family in the South West is only an additional 50km to attend boarding school in Adelaide as it is to attend boarding school in Toowoomba, taking into consideration that the family also has emotional support in SA and much closer public access transport options. Secondary students and their families on the QLD/SA border should be able to have the same opportunity that children on the QLD/NSW border have in regard to an option of an approved school to best suit their family’s needs and their child’s emotional wellbeing.
