Choice and Affordability Fund Annual Reports

The Choice and Affordability Fund (CAF) is part of the Australian Government’s commitment to Australian families to provide them with a choice of which school to send their child to. The Catholic Schools NSW (CSNSW) funding distribution model and methodology support this commitment by giving parents the opportunity to choose an affordable Catholic school that will best suit their individual child.

The CAF will provide CSNSW with approximately $226 million over ten years from 2020 to 2029 to help address the challenges schools are experiencing due, to changes in per capita funding resulting from the implementation of the Direct Measure of Income (DMI) funding methodology introduced by the Australian Government in 2020.

In 2023, CSNSW distributed funding from the CAF for the following national priorities:

• Choice and affordability of schools
  To provide funding for initiatives that facilitate parental choice and opportunity giving parents the ability to choose an affordable school that will best suit their individual child.
• Transition assistance (including Regional Transition Assistance)
  To provide support for schools to transition to a new Capacity to Contribute model for recurrent funding. Funding was also provided to regional and remote Systemic schools in 2023 for the first time. Up until 2023, funding from the CAF had only been provided to Non-Systemic Catholic schools.
• Special circumstances funding
  To support schools and students impacted by unforeseen events including in priority areas such as rural, regional and remote locations affected by drought or other natural disasters.

Download a copy of the 2023 Choice and Affordability Fund Annual Report.

In accordance with the requirement (in paragraph 66 of CAF Guidelines) to make the CAF reports publicly available,  you can also download a copy of the 2022 report here and the 2021 report here.

You can also download the CSNSW 2023 Financial Report here.