Victorian Premier Denis Napthine has announced an additional $5.4 billion will be provided for primary and secondary schools across Victoria under a re-elected Coalition Government.
Dr Napthine said the Coalition Government had a comprehensive plan to build a better education system for a smarter Victoria.
“Kids are our future,” he said. “Our plan will deliver better facilities and better learning experiences for all young Victorians, whether they are pre-school children in early learning centres or students who are in their late teens and completing VCE.
“We will invest $1.2 billion in new schools and school upgrades over the next four years, because we know that having access to new, modern learning facilities helps young people reach their full potential – this investment will fund more than 200 school infrastructure projects around the state.
“We will also deliver on our commitment to deliver additional funding through the Better Schools Agreement with the Commonwealth Government. This means we will provide an additional $4.2 billion for primary and secondary education over the next four years.”
Australian Education Union (AEU) Victoria president Meredith Peace highlighted Napthine’s record in cuts to schools across the state and is calling for transparency and for a clear vision for the future of Victorian schools.
“The Government has had four years to invest in Victoria’s public education system,” she said. “Instead he has created a significant backlog of problems across the state. He should have been addressing those issues while he was in government, but he’s failed to do that.
“His cuts have seen programs in schools disappear, TAFEs have been decimated and his Government has denied the promised additional funding from Gonski that our students and schools desperately need.”
Peace also highlighted the urgent maintenance needs of schools and lack of funding for new school buildings during Napthine’s term of government.
“Schools are facing problems with gutters, with rooves, with toilets,” she said. “We should have new schools in growth corridors up and running now.
“The Premier’s announcement today does little to address the significant needs of schools. $1.2 billion over four years for capital works represent $668 million less than what Labor spent over their last four years in Government.
“Premier Napthine knows that the real story about Gonski is his refusal to transparently allocate hundreds of millions of dollars of additional federal funding to schools. Victorian educators and parents need a government that will invest in Victorian children and provide the resources schools need to deliver programs and support for their students.”
Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has previously announced the Victorian Labor Government will reintroduce Tech Schools and boost the state’s TAFE system with a $320 million cash injection.
The Victorian election will be held on Saturday 29th November.
