A WYNDHAM principal fears his school will miss out on funding for the next stage of works as the state government tries to fix 200 schools in need of urgent repair.
An audit of education department infrastructure, tabled in State Parliament last week, revealed notable issues with 2042 buildings at 505 schools across Victoria. A further 3074 buildings were below standard.
The report said close to $45 million needed to be spent on western suburbs schools to bring their buildings up to scratch.
The west had 142 schools which required an average maintenance investment of $316,000 each to fix buildings which were potentially unsafe.
Schools were found to be decaying despite almost $547 million being spent in the region.
Education Minister Martin Dixon has vowed to spend $51.5 million on urgent maintenance at more than 200 schools.
Tarneit Senior College principal Michael Fawcett said he feared money set aside to complete new schools would be diverted to help repair old schools. His school opened last February and missed out on funding for stage two works in last May’s budget, leaving students without purpose-built food technology rooms, a canteen, gymnasium and performing arts area. The shortfall means the school is unable to offer a full program of VCE subjects.
“We have no guarantee of stage two funding so we are about to apply for portable buildings on site which are sub-standard, 1970s buildings like our administration area,” Mr Fawcett said.
“We don’t want a school full of portables because it is a guarantee your culture won’t develop the way you want.”
The audit follows the release of a report by outer suburban councils, which claimed the government underinvested in buffer area primary and secondary schools by more than $187 million.
The One Melbourne or Two? report also criticised the government for short-changing kindergarten and early childhood education funding by $11.6 million and TAFE funding by $68.8 million. The report said the government funded just one new school in growth areas last year.
