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Gippsland State Schools Rotting: No Money For Maintenance

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information show Gippsland schools are millions of dollars behind in their maintenance and are being run into the ground by the Bracks Government.

By Philip Davis - 25th November 2004 - Back to News

Liberal Member for Gippsland Province Philip Davis said the figures, which Labor previously refused to release publicly, paint a picture of a state school system in crisis.

"A staggering 26 state schools in Gippsland have maintenance backlog bills topping $100,000 (list attached)," he said.

"Traralgon Secondary College is a massive $1,250,576 behind in maintenance funding.

"These schools have been left to rot."

The Bracks Government’s own working party noted "cracked bitumen, leaking roofs, broken spouting, poor lighting, poor heating, rotting window frames, cracked toilets and blocked stormwater drains" among the many problems, Mr Davis said.

"The Auditor General, the Principals’ Association, the Parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee and the Government’s Physical Resource Maintenance working party have publicly criticised the Bracks Government for baulking on audits and ignoring maintenance needs in schools," he said.

"Even worse is that these figures, while being the most current available, date back to an audit from 2001.

"Presumably fearful of a much worse result now, Education Services Minister Jacinta Allan has since cancelled the audit for 2004."

Mr Davis said three more years of additional damage and decay hasn’t been factored in, meaning the real figures will be astronomical.

"Parents would be horrified to learn the conditions that their children are learning in," he said.

Almost $700 million in backlogged maintenance was discovered in Victorian schools after the last Labor Government was voted out of office. By the time of the next state election in 2006, Victoria’s schools will be back in this position.

"The previous Liberal Government implemented a world standard system for maintaining the assets and buildings in Victorian state schools," Mr Davis said.

"But the Bracks Labor Government has reverted to an unfunded, unbudgeted, unpredictable and politicised luck-of-the-draw approach.

"Our kids deserve better than what Steve Bracks is giving them."

OUR ROTTING SCHOOLS

Gippsland schools with a maintenance funding lag of more than $100,000 …

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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