From laptops to loos, why are schools fundraising to cover essentials?

When Cate Gilpin discovered her school's Parents & Citizens Association (P&C) was fundraising thousands of dollars for classroom literacy resources, she couldn't understand why it wasn't coming out of government funds.

Research shows her school is not an isolated case.

P&Cs are being forced to scale up their revenue-raising activities to cover what many consider to be essentials — like laptops, classroom resources, and toilet repairs.

Education experts say that relying on communities to fill the public education funding gap is creating greater inequity in an already broken system.