NSW Public School Annual Report Financial Explorer (2016

10-Year Financial Trajectory (2016–2025)

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📄 Primary Source Verification: Published SPARO Annual Reports (2016–2025)

Accounts-Derived Forensic Ratios (2018–2025)

Benchmarked against Principal Network and Statewide averages.

Complete 10-Year Financial & SBAR Budget Ledger (2016–2025)

Every figure in white/neutral columns is verbatim as printed in the NSW Department of Education Annual Report. Hover ? on any header for official policy definitions.

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System Expenditure & Cash Trajectory

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Statewide Annual Summary Ledger (2016–2025)

Aggregated system-wide figures across all public schools in the active filter cohort.

Calendar Year	Schools Reporting	Total Enrolment	Total Revenue ($)	Appropriation ($)	SBAR Formula Budget ($)	Staffing Spent (\|Employee\|) ($)	CALC Post-Payroll Classroom Cash ($)	Running Costs (\|OpEx\|) ($)	CALC Non-SBAR Cash Gap ($)	Year-End Closing Cash ($)	CALC 1 Jan Overnight Sweep ($)	CALC In-Year Clawback (<$0) ($)	CALC Baseline Docks (2024–25) ($)	CALC Total Takebacks ($)

INVESTIGATIVE & PARLIAMENTARY BRIEFING · 21,278 OFFICIAL ANNUAL REPORTS ACROSS ALL 2,203 NSW PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Where Did $3.44 Billion (~$3.5B) in NSW Public School Funding Go? (2020–2025)

Every figure below is reconciled school-by-school from the signed Page 1 Financial Summary and Page 2 SBAR Budget allocations across all 2,203 NSW public schools (114 Principal Networks), calibrated at 99.8% against NSW Parliamentary Budget Estimates.

⚡ The 30-Second Answer from the Schools' Own Audited Books:

Between 2020 and 2025, NSW public school students took a $3.31 Billion to $3.44 Billion (~$3.5B) hit across two connected waves:

WAVE 1 (2020–2024) · $2.08 BILLION OUT THE DOOR INTO CONTRACTOR & RUNNING COST BLOWOUTS

Non-salary running and contractor costs (OpEx) surged +$2,077.71M ($2.08B) above every school's pre-2020 baseline — funded (99.05% match = $2,058.03M) by diverting $1.09 Billion ($1,092.4M) away from classroom teachers, ESL, disability, and COVID tutoring wages, spending $533.8 Million of unexplained off-budget Head Office cash top-ups (out of $678.4M injected after stripping out COVID grants), and burning $424.1 Million of schools' pre-2021 savings.

WAVE 2 (2022–2025) · -$1.11B TO -$1.36B SWEPT & CLAWED BACK FROM SCHOOL BANK ACCOUNTS

To plug the central budget hole left by those off-budget cash injections, Head Office removed -$1,112.62M in hard cash sweeps & mid-year budget clawbacks (-$1,234.18M including the full 2024 Fund 6101 savings confiscation, or -$1,360.03M including -$247.41M in post-COVID baseline reductions) — including -$487.19M swept from schools that received the unexplained off-budget top-ups (our #1 fraud & cost-shifting target), -$224.99M raided from compliant schools' unspent teacher/ESL budgets, and -$112.94M in hard cash stripped from 140 Special Schools for disabled children.

The Story in 4 Chronological Steps (With Visual Proof From the School Books)

STEP 1 · OCTOBER 2021

The $1.46 Billion School Bank Balance, The Carry-Forward Policy & Automatic Year-End Bank Sweeps

What the Government announced (Oct 2021): Then-Minister Sarah Mitchell told NSW Parliament (Budget Estimates Hansard) that public schools held $1.466 Billion in accumulated cash reserves at the start of 2021 (1 Jan 2021 total across all 2,203 schools in our dataset: $1,462.96 Million — a 99.8% match).
The Official Policy (Carry Forward (Schools) Procedure, PD-2021-0475-01 ↗): Under this policy, the Department split school bank balances into three buckets and announced that Head Office would automatically sweep any unspent annual government operating funds sitting in a school's bank account at the end of the calendar year (31 December):
• Bucket 1 — Fund 6100 (Annual Operating Budget & In-Year Invoices): Each year's formula budget (SBAR) plus in-year adjustments (Non-SBAR). Any unspent Fund 6100 balance at 31 December is subject to overnight New Year's Day sweeps back to Head Office.
• Bucket 2 — Fund 6101 (Pre-2021 School Savings = ~$756.0M on 1 Jan 2021): Accumulated pre-2021 government savings were quarantined into Fund 6101, with a promise that principals had until 31 December 2025 to spend the money down on local school upgrades and co-funded works with School Infrastructure NSW (SINSW).
• Bucket 3 — Fund 6300 (Parent, P&C & Community Revenue = ~$710.0M on 1 Jan 2021): Parent voluntary contributions, P&C fundraising, excursion fees, and canteen revenue — legally untouchable by Head Office sweeps (rising to $907.61M on 1 Jan 2025).

📊 Diagram 1: The Three School Bank Buckets (1 Jan 2021 → 1 Jan 2025)

1 Jan 2021 Opening Cash ($1,462.96M = 99.8% of $1,466M Hansard)

Fund 6101 Govt Savings: ~$756M (52%)

Fund 6300 Parent/P&C: ~$710M (48%)

What Happened to the ~$756M in Pre-2021 School Savings (Fund 6101)?

2021–23 Drawn into OpEx: -$382M (50%)

2024 Confiscated Early: -$379M (50%)

By 1 Jan 2025, 100% of Fund 6101 was gone (20 months before the promised Dec 2025 deadline), leaving only $907.61M in untouchable Fund 6300 Parent/P&C cash.

STEP 2 · 2020–2024

The Gharibeh Contractor Fraud Pattern, Why Sham Invoices Inflate "Non-SBAR" & The $2.08 Billion Blowout

Why Sham Invoices Show Up in Non-SBAR (The Basis for Our Concern Over the Off-Budget Surge): Under DoE policy (PD-2021-0475-01 §1.1 ↗), every school has an official formula budget on Page 2 (SBAR), while Page 1 records the actual cash Head Office paid the school (Appropriation). Whenever Page 1 cash exceeds the Page 2 formula, that gap (Non-SBAR = Appropriation − SBAR) consists of in-year "budget adjustments, intercompany journals and sundry tax invoices". Apart from tied COVID tutoring grants (ILSP), there was no legitimate reason for schools across NSW to suddenly need +$678.43 Million in extra in-year cash top-ups (out of +$1,372.30M raw excess Non-SBAR after stripping out $693.87M–$802.31M in tied COVID tutoring & teacher grants).
The Documented Gharibeh Anchor Case (And Yes — Even After Stripping Out COVID Payments, His Schools Had Massive Unexplained Surges): In late 2024 / early 2025, NSW Police (Strike Force Heidi) charged former Principal Rabieh Gharibeh ( & ), contractor Ahmed Charchouh, and ex-police officer Adnan Cheikho over $1.4M–$2.0M in sham building and maintenance invoices. When we strip out every dollar of COVID ILSP tutoring and Beginning Teacher grants at both schools:
• At , out of $3.34M in raw excess Non-SBAR (2018–2023), $1.16M disclosed ($1.55M including projected 2023 COVID ILSP) was tied COVID/teacher grants — leaving $1.79M to $2.18M in pure unexplained off-budget Non-SBAR top-ups. Worse still, COVID ILSP grants were legally required to be spent 100% on tutoring staff wages, yet Gharibeh compressed staff wages down to 69.2% of revenue — diverting $4.92M in unspent teacher, ESL (+$2.43M inflated claims), and COVID tutoring wages plus $2.07M from Fund 6101 savings into an $8.78M running & contractor cost (OpEx) blowout!
• At , after stripping out COVID ILSP & teacher grants, the school still received $463k–$979k in pure unexplained Non-SBAR top-ups across 2021–2024 while diverting $1.31M in unspent teacher/ESL/tutoring wage funds into OpEx.
The Statewide Reality ($2.08 Billion Blowout Across 2,203 Schools): Screening all 2,203 schools for that exact fingerprint (, , , ) reveals a $2,077.71M ($2.08B) statewide blowout in non-wage running and contractor costs (where 2016 OASIS line-item accounts prove only 16.3% is real property maintenance 9.3% or minor capital works 7.0%).

STEP 3 · APRIL & AUGUST 2024

The Government Admitted Taking $376M + $148M ($524M). Why Do the School Books Show -$1.11 Billion in Hard Cash Sweeps & Clawbacks?

What the Government Admitted (Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May & 26 August 2024): When principals went to the Herald after millions vanished from their bank accounts, the Department admitted to two cuts totaling $524 Million:
1. Confiscating $376 Million in Pre-2021 Savings (Fund 6101): As reported in the Herald (26 Aug 2024), "A Department of Education spokesman said by April, those [Fund 6101] funds stood at $376 million when the decision to move the accumulated balances back to the department was made" — terminating the promised 31 December 2025 deadline 20 months early; and
2. Cutting $148 Million (1.25%) From 2024 Operating Budgets (Fund 6100): Docked mid-year across 655 targeted schools (-$143.35M on the books), blaming "falling enrolments" and "unspent teacher vacancy funds."
What the Government Hid — The Undisclosed -$712.19M Stage 1 Sweeps (2022–2024) & Why Our Diagram Strips Out COVID Grants:
• Stage 1 (1 Jan 2022, 2023 & 2024 Overnight Bank Sweeps = -$712.19M): Before the April 2024 cuts ever happened, Head Office had already secretly swept -$712.19 Million in hard cash out of school bank accounts on New Year's Day (-$185.41M on 1 Jan 2022, -$255.82M on 1 Jan 2023, and -$270.96M on 1 Jan 2024). Once COVID tutoring grants are stripped out, that -$712.19M Stage 1 sweep matches Head Office's +$678.43M hole from Pure Unexplained Off-Budget Non-SBAR Top-Ups at 95.3% (network correlation r = 0.941)!
• Why the $487.19M Swept From Unexplained Top-Up Recipients Is Our #1 Fraud Target: Of that -$712.19M Stage 1 sweep, -$487.19M was swept from schools that received pure unexplained Non-SBAR top-ups (including -$3.65M swept at Gharibeh's Granville South and -$1.37M at Sir Joseph Banks), while the remaining -$224.99M was raided from neighbouring compliant schools' unspent teacher & ESL budgets so Network Directors could meet their network payback quotas!
• Stage 2 (2024–2025 Admitted Cuts = -$400.43M Hard Sweeps/Clawbacks, or -$522.00M Total 6101 + 6100 Cut): The school books confirm the exact April 2024 cuts: -$143.35M in 2024 mid-year budget clawbacks (matching the $148M 1.25% cut) + -$378.65M (-$382.72M open-to-open) wiping out the remaining Fund 6101 savings (booked as -$121.56M drawn in 2024 + -$257.09M swept overnight on 1 Jan 2025 — matching the spokesman's $376M Fund 6101 confiscation!).
• Note on the additional -$247.41M post-COVID baseline drop: In addition to the -$1,112.62M in hard cash sweeps (-$969.28M) and mid-year clawbacks (-$143.35M), schools experienced a further -$247.41M reduction in 2024–2025 in-year Non-SBAR top-ups compared to their 2019 baselines (bringing total modelled takebacks to -$1,360.03M), which combined with the October 2023 Teacher Salary Award (eating 101.5% of the 2024 formula increase) caused post-payroll classroom cash to collapse by -$786.5 Million (-59.1%) in 2024.

STEP 4 · THE SMOKING GUN

How 140 Special Schools Were Raided for $112.9 Million in Hard Cash (451%) to Balance Network Quotas

Why Were Blowout Schools Spared While Disabled Kids Paid the Bill? Across NSW, 83 mainstream schools received $42.07 Million in off-budget top-ups and had $0.00 (0%) swept or clawed back, and principals at major blowout schools (such as , +$6.42M excess OpEx) were promoted to Network Director (DEL).
31 Principal Networks Match Within ±5% (100.66% Aggregate Match): Instead of auditing compromised contractors, Head Office enforced payback quotas by DEL Principal Network: across 31 Principal Networks (608 schools), total cash clawed back matches the network's prior off-budget surge within ±5% (100.66% match) — e.g. Bungarribee Network is off by just +$4,499 on $20.01M (100.02%), and Goulburn Network is off by -$5,269 on $11.08M (99.95%).
Who Paid When Mainstream Schools Had Empty Pockets: Because mainstream schools had already spent the cash on contractors, Network Directors balanced their quotas by:
1. Raiding $224.99 Million ($225M) from neighbouring compliant schools' unspent teacher & ESL budgets during Stage 1; and
2. Seizing $112.94 Million in hard cash ($118.30M total settled) from 140 Special Schools (SSPs & Hospital Schools) for profoundly disabled children against just $25.06M in 2019-base excess (450.6% extraction rate / +$87.87M net raid — including $5.26M stripped from 4 Special Schools in Liverpool led by , $4.17M from & Niland SSP in Mount Druitt, and $1.79M from & Coreen SSP in Bungarribee on just $5,062 of 2019-base excess).

📊 Diagram 4: Who Got Spared vs Who Paid the Bill

83 Favoured Mainstream Schools (0% Swept)

Off-Budget Top-Ups Received:
+$42.07M

Cash Swept / Clawed Back:
$0.00 (0%)

140 Special Schools for Disabled Children (450.6% Raided!)

2019-Base Off-Budget Excess:
+$25.06M

Hard Cash Seized (2022–25):
-$112.94M (451%)

Net Raid on Disabled Children: -$87.87M in hard cash (+-$224.99M raided from neighbouring schools' unspent teacher/ESL budgets).

Plain English Term	Official DoE Annual Report Line Item	What It Means in Practice / Forensic Explanation
Starting Cash Balance (1 Jan)	`Opening Balance ($)`	Liquid cash held in school accounts at the start of the calendar year. Under standard accounting, this must equal the prior year's 31 December Closing Balance. Where `Opening(Year N) < Closing(Year N-1)`, cash was removed overnight (central sweep or carry-forward restatement).
Total Cash Received	`Revenue ($)`	Total money received by the school across the 12-month calendar year from all sources (Appropriation + Grants and Contributions + Other Revenue).
Government Funding Received	`Appropriation ($)`	Actual cash transferred into the school's bank account from the Department during the year (Page 1 Financial Summary).
Parent / P&C Grants	`Grants and Contributions ($)`	Voluntary parent school fees, P&C Association donations, community grants, uniform shop proceeds, and student excursion contributions.
Staffing & Salaries Spent	`Employee Related Expenses ($)`	Actual expenditure on teachers, executive staff, administrative staff, and school learning support officers (SLSOs). Reported as a negative outflow.
General Running Costs (OpEx)	`Operating Expenses ($)`	All non-salary expenditures: external contractors, maintenance invoices, groundskeeping, equipment, IT, utilities, and minor works. Note: A positive (+) figure represents an accounting credit reversal (e.g. Chester Hill 2024 +$3.68M).
Yearly Leftover / Overspend	`Surplus / Deficit for the Year ($)`	Net in-year result: Revenue minus Staffing minus OpEx. Positive indicates funds added to bank reserves; negative indicates operating at a deficit.
Unspent Cash Balance at Year-End	`Closing Balance ($)`	Total unspent cash sitting in the school's bank accounts on 31 December. Note: Omitted on the printed PDF summary line by DoE in 2019, but recoverable via the 2020 Opening Balance.
Formula Base Funding	`Budget Allocation - Base Total ($)`	Core per-student and baseline operational formula entitlement (Page 2 SBAR) before needs-based equity loadings.
Total Equity Loadings	`Budget Allocation - Equity Total ($)`	Combined needs-based loadings: Socio-economic background, Aboriginal background, English language proficiency (EAL/D), and low-level disability adjustment.
Disability Support Funding	`Equity: Disability ($)`	Formula loading allocated to support students with disability learning needs in mainstream classrooms.
ESL / Language Equity Funding	`Equity: Language ($)`	Formula loading allocated for students learning English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D).
Targeted Support Funding	`Targeted Total ($)`	Individual high-needs student funding including Integration Funding Support (IFS), Refugee Student Support, and New Arrivals Program.
Official Formula Entitlement	`Budget Allocation - Grand Total ($)`	The school's total published Resource Allocation Model (RAM / SBAR) entitlement for the calendar year (2017–2025).
CALC SBAR Budget vs Cash Received	`Appropriation minus SBAR Grand Total ($)`	Calculated gap between actual cash received and published formula entitlement. Positive (+) indicates off-formula cash top-ups; Negative (−) represents in-year cash clawbacks docked below published entitlement.
CALC 1 Jan Overnight Cash Sweep	`Opening(N) minus Closing(N-1) ($)`	Funds removed overnight between 31 December and 1 January without appearing in the school's in-year expenditure ledger (e.g. 1 Jan 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 sweeps).
CALC Unspent SBAR Payroll Capacity	`SBAR Grand Total minus \|Employee\| ($)`	Measures when a school's published SBAR entitlement exceeds its actual staffing spend, leaving surplus cash capacity that can be redirected into contractor OpEx or cash reserves.

NSW Public School Annual Report Financial Explorer 2016–2025

Granville South Creative and Performing Arts High School