The department continues to invest in building Queensland's future by delivering a high equity and quality early childhood and school education system which provides a strong start for all children and supports every student to realise their potential.
In 2023–24, the department achieved an operating surplus of $122.991 million, or 1% against a total departmental controlled budget of $12.703 billion. Key investments and initiatives included:
- Providing for 15 hours per week of kindergarten free from 1 January 2024 for all 4-year-olds, removing the cost barrier to participation in kindergarten, relieving cost of living pressures for Queensland families, improving educational outcomes, and supporting labour market participation.
- Focusing on government priorities through consideration of population growth and shifts, changes in educational needs and addressing high priority needs for student and staff health and safety.
- Continued investment in delivering new and upgraded school sport infrastructure and equipment to increase student activity and participation in sport across all Queensland schools under the $100 million Go for Gold Fund.
- Continued to deliver the Great Teachers, Great Future election commitment to deliver more than 6,100 new FTE teachers and more than 1,100 new FTE teacher aides over 4 years (2021 to 2024).
The department's material financial statement balances reflect our large school land and buildings portfolio across over 1,260 state schools, and the payment of salaries for our school, regional and central office staff who number in excess of 76,000 full time equivalents. Supplies and services expenses were dominated by curriculum resources and school operating expenditure, as well as school utility costs and the maintenance and upkeep of our large asset base on school sites.
In accordance with section 77(2)(b) of the
Financial Accountability Act 2009 (Qld), I have provided the Director-General with a statement regarding the financial internal controlsof the department, in line withsection 54 of the Financial and Performance Management Standard 2019 (Qld). As the Chief Finance Officer, I have therefore fulfilled the minimum responsibilities as required by section 77(1)(b)of the
Financial Accountability Act 2009 (Qld).
Duncan Anson
GAICD, FCPA, B Bus
Assistant Director-General, Finance, Procurement and Facilities, and Chief Finance Officer
The following financial summary provides an overview of the department's financial results for 2023–24. For a comprehensive set of financial statements covering all aspects of the department’s activities, see the financial statements section of this annual report. No totals have been adjusted for commercial-in-confidence requirements.
Controlled financial performance
The department recorded an operating surplus of $122.991 million for 2023–24. Table 2 summarises the financial results of the department’s operations for the last 3 years.
Table 2: Summary of financial performance
| Income | 10,982,740 | 12,174,102 | 12,982,581 |
| Expenses | 10,823,544 | 12,029,441 | 12,859,590 |
|
Operating surplus/deficit |
159,196 |
144,661 |
122,991 |
Income
Income for our controlled operations totalled $12.983 billion, an increase of $808.479 million from last year.
Departmental controlled services revenue (appropriation) was $12.184 billion, an increase of $824.653 million from last year. This was largely due to additional funding for a range of school education related initiatives, election commitments, enterprise bargaining outcomes, increased funding to support kindergartens, funding to meet additional depreciation expenditure, as well as, increased Australian Government funding under the National School Reform Agreement and associated Bilateral Agreement.
Figure 1: Controlled income 2023–24
| Appropriation revenue | 93.85 | 12,184,428 |
| User charges and fees | 4.01 | 520,813 |
| Grants and other contributions | 1.47 | 190,271 |
| Other | 0.67 | 87,069 |
|
Total |
N/A |
12,982,581 |