Principal Ann Caro said the statement, which included Lithgow High School’s 2018 needs-based funding allocation of $1.33 million, required clarification. 

“It’s not new funding, this is the fifth year we have received needs-based funding. That funding has been locked in for the last four years,” she said. 

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“There has been an incremental increase each year, last year we received $1.3 million and there was an increase of $126,000 on that for 2018.

“It’s a formula that targets money to kids who need it, it’s called targetted equity funding. It’s the NSW coalition government’s needs-based funding initiative.” 

Ms Caro said the $1.33 million of targeted equity funding the school will receive as part of their total $10 million budget in 2018 had already been allocated to ongoing programs for disadvantaged students the school has implemented over the past four years.

“We do receive the most in that funding in the Bathurst region because we are the largest school with the most disadvantaged students,” she said. 

“We have used the money to put on additional staff and train staff around literacy and numeracy outcomes. We’ve also used the money to provide access to technology and software platforms, as well as pay for everyday tuition at school and offer targetted programs and student assistance to needy students.”

Ms Caro said she was grateful for the funding initiative and that it had "absolutely" delivered better outcomes for students. 

“We have had improved NAPLAN results and improved HSC results last year and this year. It’s shown an impact in the sense that we have more students achieving their potential.”

She said that while the school had seen an increase in students attaining band sixes, and the school achieved its best ever marks in Advanced English in the 2017 HSC, results at the lower end of the scale were also an important indicator of improvement. 

“There is a reduced number of students getting in the band one, two and three range and more kids moving into the four, five, six range range,” she said.

“We are seeing an improvement in the number of kids completing Year 12 and participating in the school, in robotics and STEM and programs like that.” 

Schools in the Lithgow area will receive a total of $4,449,766 in 2018 as part of the ongoing equity initiative.