Primary and high school students in NSW are not meeting the state government's NAPLAN reading and numeracy targets and children are starting kindergarten less academically prepared than they were three years ago, the latest report on the state's education system reveals.
The annual Auditor-General's report released on Friday shows that the proportion of NSW students who achieved the national minimum standard in NAPLAN persuasive writing and spelling has decreased since 2011 and the performance of all students in NAPLAN numeracy also dropped.
The report says NSW is exceeding its target for the proportion of children accessing a quality early childhood education program in the year before school, with the latest data showing that 96.2 per cent of children were exposed to a preschool program, an increase from 81.9 per cent in 2008 and above the national target of 95 per cent.
But results from the Best Start kindergarten assessment, a one-on-one assessment in NSW to identify each student's literacy and numeracy skills at the beginning of school, shows that NSW is not increasing the proportion of children who have the basic skills they need when starting school.
NSW is also unlikely to meet its target to have 90 per cent of young school leavers in further education, training or employment by 2020 and the state will not achieve its goal to increase the proportion of 20-24-year-old rural and regional students finishing year 12, the annual Auditor-General's report says.
Opposition education spokesman Ryan Park said the government was turning its back on regional and rural students by making further cuts to TAFE.
"Rural and regional NSW will continue to be the big losers because the state government is making sure they will not have access to further education," Mr Park said.
There is also a $548 million backlog in the maintenance of school property, prompting a warning from the Auditor-General that this needed to be addressed immediately.
NSW Greens MP John Kaye said the maintenance backlog meant schools were increasingly forced to put up with "leaky roofs, mouldy walls, damaged floor coverings and toilets that don't flush properly".
"Public schools are caught between the department and Treasury, with neither prepared to set a standard of maintenance that respects the needs of students and teachers," Dr Kaye said.
The average bank balance for secondary schools was $804,381 while primary schools had an average $223,506 in their bank accounts but the report revealed five NSW public schools with the healthiest accounts, which totalled more than $18 million between them.
The schools include Chifley College Senior Campus in Mount Druitt ($5,081,614), Sydney Girls High School ($4,734,142), Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School ($3,319,803), Hurlstone Agricultural High School ($2,943,285) and Dubbo College Senior Campus ($2,622,247).
A spokesman for the Department of Education said the increase in the funds held in schools' bank accounts "reflected changes in the way schools look after their finances".
The department gave $903 million to private schools in 2013-14, including $1963 for each primary student and $2551 for each high school student.
But the report said that the average annual growth rate for enrolments in non-government schools was 1.3 per cent for primary and 1.9 per cent for high school yet the average annual growth rate of funding for each primary student was 1.9 per cent and and 2.2 per cent for high school students.
