New owner approved for Islamic School of Canberra

The ACT government has approved the Islamic Practice and Dawah Circle as proprietors of the Weston school, which lost its $1 million in recurrent annual funding partly due to questions around its relationship with its former owner, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

The school has applied to the ACT Education Directorate for another year's registration and awaits approval to transfer its lease to the Islamic Practice and Dawah Circle.

Principal David Johns said it would contact the federal Education Department about its funding once those boxes were ticked.

"Hopefully there's going to be a fairly short lag time between that happening and the approved authority for our school being clicked in," he said.

The school's federal funding runs out on Friday after years of departmental reviews.

It was revoked at the end of October after an independent internal review found the school had failed to address the government's concerns around financial management and governance arrangements.

The Islamic School of Canberra previously rented from AFIC and once borrowed several million dollars from the organisation to help see it through a funding cut.

Mr Johns said the Islamic Practice and Dawah Circle had pledged to fund the school until federal money was reinstated.

"They've prepared for supporting the school into the new year with the view that if we don't get that funding we'll still be able to function as a school," he said.

Parents have stood by the school, with enrolments growing from 175 late last year to at least 210 in 2018. Extra staff have been employed to teach additional classes.

"This community's been enormously positive and respectful of the stress we're going through," Mr Johns said.