As the school year begins today amidst the controversy surrounding an increase in private school fees, one Sydney father says lower-fee Anglican schools are meeting his family's needs.

Roy Hurlstone and his wife, Samantha, who live in Western Sydney, have sent all four of their children to the lower-fee Richard Johnson Anglican School, which is near Mount Druitt.

Roy Hurlstone, a child care worker and his wife, a nursing assistant, admit that it is still hard to provide enough money to cover the school fees for four children.

"It's a financial struggle at times and we use all of our child endowment payments to pay the fees. But it's money worth spending," Mr Hurlstone says.

Their children Jacinta, aged seven, Christopher, nine and Nadine, 15, all attend Richard Johnson Anglican School and Tara, 17, left the school in 2004 to complete her senior education at Arndell Anglican College.

"It's a good school with great teachers and we like the school community," Mr Hurlstone says.

Roy and Samantha removed their two oldest children from the local public school and enrolled them at Richard Johnson Anglican School when it opened in 1997.

"We were involved in the public school when our kids were there, but when my wife taught scripture one week, she saw how poor the discipline was and how many of the teachers didn't care," Mr Hurlstone says.

"We had the opportunity to check out Richard Johnson. We sent the kids there for a one day trial. They loved it and there was no looking back.

"They can get better choices for jobs later on, compared to my wife and I. They have more chance of going to university and pursuing the career they want," he says.

Recent media commentary has suggested that private " particularly Christian " education providers had "failed to meet their declared values'.

Sydney Morning Herald columnist Denis Fitzgerald " a former Teachers Federation official and current public school teacher "  said in an opinion column called "More money, less faith at private school' that Christian schools are failing to achieve their stated purpose of fostering religious belief.

Mr Fitzgerald quotes data from a 2004 National Church Life Survey that noted a decline in religious observance among Catholic and all major Protestant denominations.

He also says churches are assisting the wealthy rather than the poor as the government funding received by their schools goes to support students from families that can already afford the higher tuition fees required by private schools.

The Herald reported this month that 2006 is the fifth year in a row that private schools have lifted their fees by at least twice the inflation index.

A number of Anglican-affiliated schools recently raised their fees including Shore which will charge $21,804 for year 11, the most of any Sydney school for a single year's education, the paper reported.

However, the CEO of the Sydney Anglican Schools Corporation, Dr Laurie Scandrett believes Anglican schools are achieving their goals.

"We're establishing accessible-fee Christian schools that we believe are accessible to the local communities," he says.

Dr Scandrett says assertions in the media that dwindling church numbers indicate the failure of church schools are erroneous.

"The National Church Life Survey data indicates the Anglican Diocese of Sydney is growing and all our new schools have very strong relationships with local churches."

"At Arndell we have successfully planted a new church in the school which is going exceptionally well. And many parishes tell us how much they benefit from having an Anglican school near by. They are places of fervent evangelism," he says.

Dr Scandrett says the state government funds schools according to the socio-economic make-up of the surrounding areas. The location of schools like Richard Johnson in Western Sydney allows the school to offer local families lower tuition fees.

Mr Hurlstone says he and his family could not have afforded to send their children to a more expensive private school.

"If it wasn't a lower-fee school I don't think we would have been able to afford it," he says.

The Principal of Richard Johnson Anglican School, Paul Cockrem, says the school reviewed their fee structure five times before opening its doors.

"We obtained feedback from families to see what worked for them," Mr Cockrem says.

He says the school's lower-fee structure is assisting families like the Hurlstones who have four children.

"We offer sibling discounts of 30 per cent reduced for the second child and no tuition fees for the third and subsequent children."

Mr and Mrs Hurlstone, members of St Mark's, Oakhurst, say it is important for them to send their children to a school teaching Christian values.

"The school gives the students another link to the church and the church and school feed into one another," Roy says.

"They also have kids doing a lot of community activities like rasing money for Christian charities."