Homeschool Funding in Western Australia: What Families Can Access

Western Australia does not provide a direct government subsidy to registered home educators. Unlike some other Australian states — Queensland in particular, where Prep and Year 1 families can access educational resource funding — WA home education is unfunded at the state level. The Department of Education registers you, assigns you a moderator, and provides access to free exemplars and online resources. Beyond that, the costs of education are carried by the family.

That said, there are several funding streams and supports that WA home educators can access legitimately, and most families are not claiming everything they are entitled to.

Centrelink Family Payments: What Applies

The most significant financial support available to WA home educators is through the federal Centrelink system rather than state education funding.

Family Tax Benefit Part A (FTB-A) continues for registered home educators until a child turns 16 (or 19 if they remain in full-time education). Centrelink recognises registered home education as meeting the education requirements for continued FTB-A eligibility. Ensure your Centrelink record reflects your child's home education registration.

Schoolkids Bonus (SEB) — this payment was abolished in 2016 and is no longer available.

ABSTUDY and Youth Allowance do not typically apply to home-educated children under 16, but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in remote areas should check the specific provisions of ABSTUDY for their circumstances — eligibility rules differ from mainstream Youth Allowance and can cover educational costs in some remote scenarios.

Carer and NDIS Funding

This is where WA home educators with disabled or neurodivergent children have the most to gain.

NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) funding is not education funding, but many families find it significantly subsidises home education costs. NDIS plans can fund:

• Speech pathology and occupational therapy (essential for many autistic and ADHD children, and often directly integrated into home learning)
• Specialised learning supports and therapeutic materials
• Assistive technology, including software and hardware used for educational purposes
• Social skills programs, social groups, and community participation programs

The key is working with your NDIS planner or support coordinator to frame learning-related supports in terms of your child's functional capacity and goals rather than as "school" activities. Home-based therapists, sensory equipment, and structured social programs can all be funded through NDIS capacity building supports when properly documented in the plan.

If your child is not yet NDIS-funded and has an autism, ADHD, or other disability diagnosis, contacting the NDIS to discuss eligibility is worth the effort. The cost savings over a home education career can be substantial.

Carer Allowance and Carer Payment are available to parents of children with disability or health conditions requiring substantial care. These are not education-specific, but they support the household income of parents who cannot work full-time because they are providing care — including the care embedded in home education.

Volunteer-Run and Community Supports

The WA home education community is resourceful about distributing costs.

Co-op resource sharing is widespread. Families commonly share textbooks, manipulatives, science equipment, and subscription software across co-op groups. A Year 4 maths workbook used by three families costs each family a third of the retail price. Establishing yourself in a local co-op or HEWA network early gives you access to this economy.

HEWA membership costs approximately $20-30 per year and provides access to member discounts on curriculum and resource subscriptions. The discounts on platforms like Mathletics, ReadingEggs, and WorldBook often recoup the membership cost within the first month.

Home Education Association (HEA) membership at $79 per year provides access to a broader national discount network and includes the HEA helpline, which is useful for navigating registration and moderator questions.

Library systems are significantly underutilised by new home educators. The Perth metropolitan library network and regional library networks provide free access to a substantial range of educational books, audiobooks, online databases, and learning resources. Many branches have quiet study spaces available during school hours. State Library of WA provides digital access to several educational databases for WA card holders.

Online Curriculum and Free Resource Streams

WA's Department of Education provides several free online resources through its portal that are available to registered home educators:

• SCSA website — free access to the full WA Curriculum and Assessment Outline, achievement standards for all learning areas across all year levels, and teaching and learning examples. This is your authoritative source for curriculum alignment.
• Stile — online science and STEM curriculum resource. Some content is freely accessible.
• Reading Eggs and Mathseeds — paid subscription platforms, but frequently offered at significant discount through HEWA membership deals or Centrelink concession arrangements.

For families in remote areas, the Department of Education's School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) offers some supplementary resources to registered home educators, though it should not be confused with full distance education enrolment. Check current availability with your regional moderator.

What Home Education Actually Costs in WA

Without any curriculum subscription, using free SCSA resources, library access, and co-op resource sharing, a family can register and operate home education in WA for under $500 per year (plus time). With a structured curriculum package, digital subscriptions, and specialist co-op fees, costs typically range from $1,500 to $4,000+ annually depending on approach and family size.

The Western Australia Portfolio & Assessment Templates is a one-time cost that eliminates the documentation infrastructure problem — the time and money many families spend trying to build their own portfolio system, buying generic templates that do not map to WA requirements, or paying a home education consultant for what amounts to paperwork guidance.

Tax: What You Can and Cannot Claim

Homeschool curriculum and resource costs are generally not deductible as education expenses for federal tax purposes in Australia — the ATO's self-education deduction is specifically for costs related to your own income-earning employment, not your child's education.

The one exception worth noting: if you are a qualified teacher who provides tutoring as a business and uses some of your teaching materials within that business context, there is a potential argument for partial deduction. This is a niche scenario that warrants specific advice from an accountant familiar with self-employment deductions.

For a broader look at what homeschooling costs in Australia and how families manage the expense across different states, see our homeschool cost Australia overview.

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