Drought Assistance for Schools
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On 25 september 2007, a package of drought assistance measures totalling $714 million to support farmers, small businesses and communities in rural and regional australia was announced. Part of this package was the Drought Assistance for Schools program which provides assistance in recognition of the financial and social pressures on families and schools located in Exceptional Circumstances (EC) declared areas.
In the 2009-10 budget, various drought assistance measures were extended to 30 June 2010. this included the drought assistance for schools program.
Drought Assistance for Schools provides funding to rural and remote schools in EC declared areas to assist with ongoing education expenses and the cost of educational activities such as student excursions, which may be cost prohibitive for families experiencing financial hardship as a result of the drought.
Funding provided under the Drought Assistance for Schools program may be used to assist with the cost of items such as text books, uniforms, subject levies, excursions, student attendance at extra curricular activities and other educational activities which directly benefits students.
Exceptional Circumstances are rare and severe events outside those a farmer could normally be expected to manage using responsible farm management strategies. Events triggering an EC declaration have an impact so severe and prolonged that they are likely to occur only once in every 20-25 years. An area or region becomes declared as experiencing an EC event by the Australian Government Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Current declared EC areas or regions are available on the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website at www.daff.gov.au.
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Eligibility
All rural and remote government and non-government schools providing primary or secondary level education located in EC declared areas may be entitled to assistance of up to a maximum of $10,000 per year.
Each eligible school will receive a base entitlement of $1,000 plus a per capita allowance of $100 for every funded enrolled full time equivalent (FTE) student up to a maximum of $10,000. Drought assistance is provided in the form of a single annual payment.
Further information is available in the 'Drought Assistance Guidelines for Government Schools' and 'Drought Assistance Guidelines for Non-Government Schools' located below.
Schools that wish to query their eligibility can contact the Drought Assistance hotline on 1300 363 079.
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Guidelines
- 2010 Drought Assistance Guidelines for Government and Non-government Schools
( 
PDF 187KB | 
RTF 184KB )
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Funding Allocations
The Hon Julia Gillard MP, Minister for Education and the Hon Tony Burke MP, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, announced on 5 October 2009 that over 2 300 Australian Government and non-government schools have received a total of $17.4 million in Drought Assistance for Schools funding this year.
A complete summary of schools that received funding is now available.
Click below to access state and territory lists of schools which received funding:
See Drought Assistance for Schools funding paid to states and territories in 2008.
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