Finance & Compliance

Finance and Compliance

Funding distribution

The Queensland Catholic Education Commission has responsibility for state-wide policy making and for action in the areas of:

funding (distribution of, negotiations concerning and accountability for the funding of Catholic schools by the Commonwealth Government and the State Government)
research and collection of statistical, financial and educational data relevant to the Commission’s prime functions.

The Commission’s Finance Committee reviews funding distribution arrangements for all programs and recommends to the Commission arrangements for each program for formal endorsement.

These arrangements take into account:

the need for transparency in the Commission’s financial operations
the need for good administrative practice, i.e. appropriate authority and adequate documentation to facilitate the making of payments
the need for a fair and equitable outcome in terms of student, school and community needs.

Full details are available in the Group Funding Guidelines 2018 – 2023.

Government programs available to Catholic schools that are being administered by the Commission are listed in the Government Programs section of this website.

The Queensland Catholic Education Commission has an appeals process that applies to all government funding programs where the Commission is responsible for and has endorsed arrangements for the distribution of funds. The endorsed arrangements refer to the Program Funding Arrangements approved by the Commission on an annual basis.

Government Programs

Australian Government Programs

Further information on the programs below is available on the Australian Government Department of Education and Training website, on the Schooling page.

Program	Purpose
General Recurrent Grant	To assist schools with recurrent costs of school education
Students in Community Detention Centres	To support the education of students living in the community-based detention program in Queensland Catholic schools
Non-Government Reform Support Fund	Funding non-government representative bodies to support implementation of its school education reform priorities: • Quality assurance, moderation and support for the continued improvement of the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) • Implementation of online delivery of the National Assessment Program • Improving governance and financial management practices in non-government schools QCEC NGRSF 2019 Work Plan QCEC NGRSF Strategic Plan 2019-2022 QCEC NGRSF Annual Report 2018
Capital Programs
Capital Grants Program General Element	To provide and improve school capital infrastructure
Trade Training Centres	Improve student access to trade training facilities that meet industry standards; improve the quality of schooling offered to secondary students undertaking trade related pathways; and assist young people to make a successful transition from school to work of further education or training.
National School Chaplaincy Program	To assist schools to engage the services of a chaplain to provide additional social, emotional and spiritual support to students.

Queensland Government Programs

Further information on Grants and Appropriations is available at the Queensland Government, Department of Education website.

Program	Purpose
Capital Assistance Scheme	To provide funding assistance to non-government schools for the provision, conversion, refurbishment and upgrade of educational facilities and boarding accommodation.
Education Support Funding for Children in Care	To contribute to positive education experiences for Children and Young People in Care of the State.
External Infrastructure Subsidy Scheme	To provide funding assistance (up to 50% of the eligible cost) to non-government schools for infrastructure costs external to the site imposed by local authorities as a condition of a building approval.
Queensland Kindergarten Funding Scheme	To provide funding for kindergarten service providers for students who are at least 4 years old by 30 June.
Living Away from Home Allowance	To assist families to offset schools’ tuition fees for boarders.
Non State School Transport Assistance Scheme	To provide travel assistance to eligible applicants to subsidise the cost of transporting their children to non-State schools.
Special Needs Organisation	To assist schools with recurrent operating costs associated with the programs/activities developed to meet the needs of identified special needs students.
Students with Disabilities	To assist schools with recurrent operating costs associated with the programs/activities developed to meet the needs of identified special needs students.
State Recurrent Per Capita Grant	To assist schools with recurrent operating costs.
Youth Support Coordinators Initiative	To support retention and attainment of students in years 10-12. The target group will be students at risk and disengaging from school.
Alcohol Education Program	To promote responsible alcohol use.
Vocational Education & Training (VET) in Schools	To set out operational targets and activities in addressing industry needs, skill shortages and managing the implementation of the new VETiS Funding framework.
Advancing Teaching and Learning Program	Aims to develop professional teacher capability and school leadership
ETRF – VET Coordination and Career Enhancement	Provision of additional support services for young people in the Senior Phase of Learning, with an emphasis on the coordination of VET programs and enhancement of career guidance and counselling.
Special Assistance Schools Program – Capital Assistance	To provide funding assistance to Special Assistance Schools for the provision, conversion, refurbishment and upgrade of educational facilities.
Student Welfare Worker Program	To engage the services of a student welfare worker to provide additional social, emotional and spiritual support to students.

Capital Programs

For information about Capital programs for Queensland Catholic schools click here.

Reporting Timetable

2019 Reporting Timetable

There are a number of data collections that occur each year, some of them are government collections, others are to fulfil requirements that meet funding accountabilities or to provide statistical data for annual reporting on Catholic schools. This facility is intended to help authorities with their planning.

January - March

January

State Students with Disabilities (SWD) Accountability

School Authorities that did not complete the 2018 State SWD Education Accountability in December 2018 (including the submission of Y12 outcomes) are required to complete the report before the 23 January to fulfil accountability requirements with the Queensland Department of Education and Training for the Students with Disability Program for Non-State Schools.

School Authorities’ Delegates should receive a summary email from their first-round submission in December 2018 which a hyperlink is provided at the bottom of the email to access their previous submission. Should you need help accessing first-round submission, please contact QCEC Data Collections (datacollections@qcec.catholic.edu.au). In case nothing has been submitted prior during the first round of submission, please start with a blank form.

Due Date: 23 January 2019

2019 School Directory

For School Authorities who missed out on the first round of this collection in December 2018, this collection allows School Authorities to review and update the existing and add new school details for any last-minute changes for this school year.

School Details 2019

Add / Update School Details

Due Date: 25 January 2019

February

NAPLAN Student Background Data

Data collection process for the National Assessment Program – Literacy & Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

The key dates for collection of the data (subject to verification from Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority) are:

12 Feb 2019 – NAPLAN portal will open for receipt of data
13 Feb 2019 – Catholic Diocesan will finalize data upload for all member schools
19 Feb 2019 – Catholic Diocesan schools will be able to access the NAPLAN portal to edit their data
8 Mar 2019 – NAPLAN portal will close for the provision of all data

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) NAPLAN Portal

QCAA NAPLAN Portal – User Manual

2019 Initial Enrolments

2019 QCEC Online Data Collection

Report from each Catholic School Authority on enrolments for each year level on Friday 8 February 2019. This is to allow QCEC to respond to the National Catholic Education Commission and the media on preliminary enrolments for 2019.

Due Date: 8 February 2019

Application for New Schools/Schools Undertaking Changes to Operation

Catholic School Authorities must complete an application for new schools or schools undertaking changes to their operation (e.g. a new level of schooling where a primary school adds secondary year levels). Details are available on the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board (NASSAB) and Department of Education and Training website.

All applications must be accompanied by the NSSAB accreditation documentation and are to be sent to QCEC Data Collections email (datacollections@qcec.catholic.edu.au) for submission. Separations and amalgamations can only be approved for Australian Government funding from the commencement of the following year.

Please note: the cut-off date to submit the DET forms for separations or amalgamations is 1^st July 2019.

Application for New School and Change of School Attributes

Due Date: 22 February 2019

Advancing Teaching and Learning (ATL)

School Authorities are required to provide details of their planned ATL activities for 2019 by completing the template. Please refer to QCEC Circular 2018/130 and QCEC Circular 2019/002 for further details about this program.

Advancing Teaching and Learning Annual Plan Template

Due Date: 22 February 2019

Queensland Government Census on Students

Queensland Government data collection: The Queensland Government census day is Friday 22 February 2019 and is conducted by the Office of the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board.

Census Date: 22 February 2019

Due Date: 1 March 2019

March

Queensland Government Census on Students

Queensland Government data collection: The Queensland Government census day is Friday 22 February 2019 and is conducted by the Office of the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board.

Census Date: 22 February 2019

Due Date: 1 March 2019

State Students with Disabilities (SWD) Program Financial Accountability

Grant recipients are required to provide a report on school level expenditure of State SWD funds.

Completed acquittal forms to be:

included with the abovementioned Financial Accountability for authorisation
emailed to datacollections@qcec.catholic.edu.au

Please note the 2018 SWD program financial acquittal collection instrument will be sent to you via email by the end of January 2019.

Due Date: 8 March 2019

Youth Support Initiative (YSI) Financial Report

Under the funding agreement, Catholic School Authorities are required to provide details of how the allocated funds were used for the reporting period 1st January 2018 to 31 December 2018. This information will be included in the financial report to be submitted to the Queensland Department of Education and Training.

Note: Only Diocesan offices and Edmund Rice Education Australia are required to complete this exercise.

Please note the Youth Support Initiative (YSI) collection instrument will be sent to you via email in February 2019.

Due Date: 22 March 2019

Applications for Capital Grants

QCEC data collection: For General Capital (State and Australian Government) requests for funding; see QCEC Circular 2018/124 of 28 September 2018 for relevant details.

Due Date: 29 March 2019

April - June

April

QCEC Financial Accountability for Government Funded Programs

QCEC provides to each payee a statement of government funds paid to that payee in the preceding year. The statements are to be signed by the authorised officer and the auditor responsible for signing off on the payee’s financial statements. The statements were issued in January 2019.

Due Date: Friday, 5 April 2019

Kindergarten Enrolment Collection

Validation of kindergarten enrolment data for Semester 1, Term 1- 2019 is to be entered in the QCEC data collection instrument.

2019 Kindergarten data entry Sem 1 term 1

Due Date: Wednesday, 10 April 2019

May

NAPLAN Online May Test Schedule

QCEC requires all Catholic schools who are participating in NAPLAN Online this year to complete the QCEC NAPLAN Online May Test Schedule. This is a total of 167 Catholic schools (53 schools who participated in 2018 and 114 schools that are participating for the first time in 2019). It is to provide QCEC with oversight of test schedules (14 – 24 May 2019) for all online schools. QCEC will cross check the May test schedules of all 167 Catholic schools participating in NAPLAN Online this year to ensure they fulfil all requirements, e.g. correct order of tests and all cohorts are scheduled to complete a domain before progressing to the next domain.

Due Date: Wednesday, 1 May 2019

Financial Questionnaire (FQ) – Provision of Data to QCEC

The annual Australian Government Financial Questionnaire (FQ) for the collection of 2018 data from Non-Government schools and Systems will be available from April 2019. Catholic School Authorities are required to enter the FQ data in the QCEC FA and FQ template. This information will be provided in bulk by QCEC to SchoolsHUB. The QCEC FA and FQ template will be circulated in March 2019.

Due Date: Friday, 10 May 2019

Application for Non State Schools Transport Assistance Scheme

Online parent applications can be made for Student Travel Assistance – Semester 1, 2019 via the School Transport website

Programs available:

– Bus Fare Assistance Program

– Students with Disabilities (SWD)

Due Date: Friday, 31 May 2019

June

Trade Training Centre Activity Report

Due to the delay in the 2018 TTC/TSC Activity Report templates being available for download from the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, an extension has been granted. The completed 2018 TTC/TSC Activity Reports will now need to be received by QCEC by 12 July 2019 in order for QCEC check and upload by 31 July 2019.

Activity reports will be available for QCEC to download from Friday 3 May and will be sent to the relevant Catholic School Authorities the week beginning 7 May 2019.

State Allowance Acquittal Form

Under section 374 of the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (the Act) and section 9.3 of the Non-State Schools Recurrent Grant Policy, the governing body is required to provide to the Queensland Minister for Education school allowance acquittal details for each non-state school for the previous year of operation.

Please ensure the forms are signed by an authorised person from the governing body and an accountant who is independent from the school and the governing body. Further information regarding the allowance acquittal is available at https://education.qld.gov.au/about-us/budgets-funding-grants/grants/non-state-school/allowance-acquittal.

The acquittal forms were sent to CSA via email on 14 February 219. Please send the completed acquittal form to datacollections@qcec.catholic.edu.au by Friday 21 June 2019. Please do NOT send the form directly to the Office of Non-State Education.

Due Date: Friday, 21 June 2019

NCCD: TRS days for In-School Moderation Support

As a part of the Non-Government Reform Support Fund (NGRSF) NCCD project teacher relief days (TRS) have been provided for in-school moderation support. The number of eligible days a school can access is based on school size.

Filled template is to be submitted to QCEC with a raised invoice (no. TRS days claimed x $500) by Friday, 28 June 2019. Dioceses will submit to QCEC one collated spreadsheet and one invoice for all their schools. The NCCD TRS claim form and invoice are to be forwarded to: ngrsf@qcec.catholic.edu.au.

2019 TRS Relief Teacher List

Due Date: Friday, 28 June 2019

School Annual Report – School Report

Schools are required to publish their school annual report on the school website, and in at least one other format (e.g. hard copy, newsletter, handbook, noticeboard or sign), which the school can choose. To assist schools in completing their Annual Report the following Apparent Retention Rates for 2018 will be provided.

Refer to the DET website for more information.

Due Date: Friday, 28 June 2019

Financial Questionnaire (FQ) – Online Declaration

Schools and school authorities are required to upload their audited financial statements, review the uploaded FQ data, provide comments for any anomalies and confirm the data in the SchoolsHUB portal by 28 June 2019. Please notify QCEC Secretariat as soon as this is completed.

Due Date: Friday, 28 June 2019

July

Kindergarten Enrolment Collection

Validation of kindergarten enrolment data for Semester 1, Term 2 – 2019 and the provision of forecast attendance for Semester 2, to be entered in the QCEC data collection instrument. This information is required to facilitate release of funding to QCEC in its capacity as the Central Governing Body (CGB).

2019 Kindergarten data entry Sem 1 term 2

Due Date: Wednesday, 3 July 2019

Queensland Kindergarten Funding Scheme (QKFS) Performance Reporting – Semester 1

Delegated Catholic agencies are required to complete a quarterly Performance Report which asks for issues/trends impacting on their organisation and kindergarten services.

QKFSP – Performance Reporting template 2019

Due Date: Wednesday, 3 July 2019

Trade Training Centre Activity Report

Trade Training Centres and Trade Skills Centres are required to complete the Trade Training Centre 2018 Activity Report and Principal’s Declaration and return them to their Catholic School Authority in order to be submitted to QCEC by Friday 12 July 2019.

– Reporting templates, Principal declaration forms and guidelines will be provided by QCEC to the Catholic School Authorities to distribute to the relevant Trade Training Centre lead school in early May.

– For Trade Training Centre clusters, the lead school is responsible for the final completion and submission of the report and Principal’s declaration to their Catholic School Authority who will then submit to QCEC.

– QCEC is required to check and upload each completed report into the Australian Government’s School’s Hub by 31 July 2019.

Due Date: Friday, 12 July 2019

Preliminary National Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) Data Collection

Preliminary NCCD data collection from school authorities to QCEC helps anomalies finding prior to its actual collection in August. The data collection will close on 19 July 2019 (Week 1 Term 3) while school authorities are encouraged to submit their data as soon as the data is available to them.

Data collection tool: NCCD Preliminary Data Collection

Due Date: Friday, 19 July 2019

Safety in Schools Collection

The Queensland Department of Education and Training (DET) requires each school to complete a Safety in Schools Statement under the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006.

Data collection tool: Safety in School 2019

Each diocese should at least submit one copy of the form for all schools plus one each for any school within the authority with a “yes” responds to any question asked in the survey.

Due Date: Friday, 19 July 2019

Education Support Funding Program (ESFP) Annual Report and Acquittal

This data collection identifies students living in “Out of Home Care (OOHC)”. Students must have a completed Education Support Plan as at 30 June 2019.

The data collected will inform the 2019/2020 allocation of Education Support Funding and the Financial Acquittal for 2018/2019.

Collection templates (available in June 2019) will be distributed via email to the School Authorities data representatives.

Due Date: Friday, 19 July 2019

July - September

July

Kindergarten Enrolment Collection

2019 Kindergarten data entry Sem 1 term 2

Due Date: Wednesday, 3 July 2019

Queensland Kindergarten Funding Scheme (QKFS) Performance Reporting – Semester 1

Delegated Catholic agencies are required to complete a quarterly Performance Report which asks for issues/trends impacting on their organisation and kindergarten services.

QKFS – Performance Reporting template 2019

Due Date: Wednesday, 3 July 2019

Preliminary National Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) Data Collection

Data collection tool: NCCD Preliminary Data Collection

Due Date: Friday, 19 July 2019

Safety in Schools Collection

The Queensland Department of Education and Training (DET) requires each school to complete a Safety in Schools Statement under the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006.

Data collection tool: Safety in School 2019

Each diocese should at least submit one copy of the form for all schools plus one each for any school within the authority with a “yes” responds to any question asked in the survey. For EREA and RI Schools, please submit one form per school.

Due Date: Friday, 19 July 2019

Education Support Funding Program (ESFP) Annual Report and Acquittal

This data collection identifies students living in “Out of Home Care (OOHC)”. Students must be living in out of home care as at 30 June 2019 and have a completed Education Support Plan within one month of their enrolment.

The data collected will inform the 2019/2020 allocation of Education Support Funding and the Financial Acquittal for 2018/2019.

Collection template was distributed via email to School Authorities on 6 June 2019.

Due Date: Friday, 19 July 2019

ACARA Student Background data collection

Student Background Data is collected annually by ACARA to enable the recalculation of ICSEA scores. The data collected will also inform the calculation of Low SES Loading and Low English Proficiency Loading of Commonwealth Recurrent Grant.

Details can be found regarding the Student Background Characteristics on the ACARA web site.

As in previous years, ACARA has liaised directly with Diocesan School Authorities. RI and PJP schools will be contacted by the Secretariat and be provided with further information about this collection in June.

ACARA Privacy Policy

For schools wishing to update their score prior to the SEA and DLBOTE recalculations for the AGDET October payment, the due dates are:

Friday, 26 July 2019 for RI and PJP Schools

Thursday, 1 August 2019 for Diocesan School Authorities

Student Attendance – Semester 1 2019

Schools are required to report student attendance and the proportion of students attending school for 90% or more twice a year. Data for Semester 1 2019 is due on 31 July 2019.

Please visit the Student Attendance System (STATS) page on SchoolsHUB (https://ssp.education.gov.au/STATS/Controller.aspx) for more information.

Due Date: Wednesday, 31 July 2019

VET in Schools: Financial Acquittal

QCEC data collection – information to be provided for financial acquittal of VET in Schools funding.

Data Collection: The template will be distributed in early July.

Due Date: Wednesday, 31 July 2019

August

2019 Census on the Internet of Non-Government schools (Federal Census)

This annual collection of student and staff numbers is completed via the SchoolsHUB.

PLEASE NOTE: Starting from 2018, the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD SWD) is included as part of the Census collection.

Where a school considers that a student’s attendance on the Census day was not typical of their regular pattern of attendance during the school year, the school may apply for a determination of special circumstances in respect of each affected student.

Students for whom the school is seeking approval of special circumstances must be excluded completely from the Census data until such time as approval is granted by the Minister’s delegate.

Students who are expected to repeat Year 1 minus 1 (i.e. Prep) must be excluded from the Census count as these students are not eligible for Government funding (see the Census help document).

Census date: Friday, 2 August 2019
Statutory Declaration due date: Friday, 9 August 2018
Supporting documentation for each special circumstance student must be provided to the Commonwealth Department by Friday, 16 August 2018.

September

Religion of Teachers in Schools

This collection is undertaken to inform NCEC about the religion of teachers for the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

Please collect and report the relevant information as at Friday 2 August 2019 (the Census day). This will ensure student and teacher numbers reported in this collection match the 2019 Australian Government Census data.

Data collection tool: Religion of Teachers in Schools 2019

Due Date: Friday, 6 September 2019

Religion of Students in Schools

This collection is undertaken to inform the NCEC of the religion of students for the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

Data collection tool: Religion of Students in Schools 2019

Due Date: Friday, 6 September 2019

ACARA Student Background data collection

Student Background Data is collected annually by ACARA to enable the recalculation of ICSEA scores. School authorities submitted the needed data for re-calculation of Low SES Loading and Low English Proficiency Loading of Commonwealth Recurrent Grant due in late July are not required to re-submit their data for this purpose.

Details can be found regarding the Student Background Characteristics on the ACARA website.

As in previous years, ACARA will liaise directly with Diocesan School Authorities. RI and PJP schools will be contacted by the Secretariat and be provided with further information about this collection in July.

ACARA Privacy Policy

Due Dates:

Friday, 6 September 2019 for RI and PJP Schools

Thursday, 26 September 2019 for Diocesan School Authorities

Certifying Compliance Certificate 2018 School year

School Authorities are required to submit to QCEC on behalf of their schools a compliance certificate for the 2018 school year confirming that each school:

if selected, took part in national sample assessments,
Holds required information on student background characteristics,
provided parents or carers plain language student reports, and
has published a school annual report the required information about the school for 2018.

Data collection tool: Certifying Compliance Certificate 2018 School Year

Due Date: Friday, 13 September 2019

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Class Sizes

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) releases publication of “Education at a Glance” every year with general class size data.

Collection of class size data is required for primary (Prep – Year 6) and lower secondary (Year 7 – Year 10).

Data collection tool: Number of Class in Schools 2019

Due Date: Friday, 13 September 2019

Kindergarten Student Collection

Validation enrolments for semester 2, term 3 is to be entered into the QCEC Kindergarten data collection instrument (Sem 2 Term 3). This information is required to validate enrolment data for reconciliation purposes.

Due Date: Wednesday, 25 September 2019

Queensland Annual Schools Reporting – Post Year 12 Destination

Refer to the Education Queensland for more information.

Due Date: Monday, 30 September 2019

October

Student Attendance – Term 3 2019

Schools are required to report student attendance and the proportion of students attending school for 90% or more twice a year. Data for Term 3 2019 is due on 18 October 2019.

Please visit the Student Attendance System (STATS) page on SchoolsHUB (https://ssp.education.gov.au/STATS/Controller.aspx) for more information.

Due Date: Friday, 18 October 2019

Onshore Education Program Student Claims Process Term 4 2019

School authorities are required to provide a list of school age students in the categories of Illegal Maritime Arrivals (IMAs):

Living in the community under Community Detention (CD) arrangements
Being accommodated in alternative places of detention (APOD) such as Immigration Transit Accommodation (ITA) in Brisbane

The list is then collated by the Secretariat and forward to the Department of Home Affairs for invoicing of associated funding. Generally, students who are eligible for funding under the Onshore Education Program are not eligible for funding from neither the Federal nor State Department of Education. Students without visas should be excluded from both the Federal and State census.

Please refer to the Onshore Education Program – Student Claims Process for non-government for more information.

Data collection tool: Onshore Education Program Student List 2019 Term 4

Due Date: Friday, 25 October 2019

Applications for Non-State Schools Transport Assistance Scheme

Online parent applications can be made for Student Travel Assistance – Semester 2, 2019 via the School Transport website

Programs available:

Bus Fare Assistance Program
Students with Disabilities (SWD)

Due Date: Thursday, 31 October 2019

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