Within 5-10 years, the hardest schools for kids to get into will be public schools. The authors examine demographic trends, political policy, enrolments and the direction of society as a whole. Kids most likely to miss out on a place in a public school are middle class kids, and that the next generation of Australian middle class parents will be the first for 150 years who will have no choice but to pay for their children's education. Australia has embarked on a radical and unique education policy and, if current policies and trends do not change, will become the first western democracy to dismantle its public education system.