Local schools share in $51.5m funding

Box Hill High School and Chatham Primary School will share in $51.5 million of funding being provided by the State Government for school maintenance, repairs and rebuilding.

The $51.5 million of funding will allow the repair or rebuilding of every government school building across the State that is currently in a poor condition.

Chatham Primary School will receive $124,820 and Box Hill High School will receive $43,516.

The Member for Box Hill, Robert Clark, said the funding for Chatham Primary School and Box Hill High School would pay for much needed repairs and maintenance at both schools.

“The Coalition is delivering on its commitment to complete a thorough maintenance audit of Victorian Government schools and increase school autonomy while decreasing bureaucratic red tape.”

“Armed with accurate information principals will be able to better identify, prioritise and manage the maintenance of their schools.”

“Both Box Hill High and Chatham Primary are established schools with good reputations for providing a high standard of education and this funding will help pay for important repair works,” said Mr Clark.

The Minister for Education, Martin Dixon, said a comprehensive maintenance audit of more than 27,000 school buildings was carried out last year, fulfilling an election promise.

“The Government is committed to better building management in all 1,539 Government schools,” Mr Dixon said.

“The independent maintenance audit has given us a clear and consistent picture of school maintenance requirements so that funding is allocated to schools most in need of repair or rebuilding.

“All Victorian government schools will achieve a higher standard of buildings and infrastructure, ensuring a quality educational environment for children in metropolitan and regional Victoria.

“The Government is developing a long-term project pipeline and a more transparent funding process so schools have more certainty when planning their infrastructure investments.”

A complete picture of the state of school buildings did not exist until the Victorian Coalition Government’s building audit.

“Despite the billions spent on programs like Building the Education Revolution(BER), the audit revealed a massive $420 million maintenance backlog,” Mr Dixon said.

“The results of the maintenance audit will guide future maintenance and capital works under a better model that will ensure programs like the BER do not leave schools with unsustainable maintenance costs.”

Principals will receive a copy of their school’s Condition Assessment Report based on the findings of the industry best-practice audits undertaken in 2012.