Member for Benambra Bill Tilley has slammed planning money in the Victorian budget for a Leneva school while existing “dilapidated” schools get nothing.
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None in his electorate will receive money, but $550,000 will be spent to plan for a primary school on Frederic Street Road catering to 475 students.
Mr Tilley warned the development of the Leneva school could lead to the closure of Bandiana Primary.
“I cite Wodonga South moving to Southern Rise; this would be a typical example of what the true plan really is,” he said.
“The new school only benefits the land sales out there.
“You have to provide services for current community and this is not doing it – we know the growth corridor at this stage is through Killara.
“It’s good to plan for the future, but we have to meet immediate needs of our education facilities and that’s not only Wodonga but Beechworth and Rutherglen.”
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Rutherglen High School and Beechworth Secondary College received funding in 2016 to plan upgrades.
Mr Tilley said progress was lagging on those projects with no further money earmarked.
“Our understanding is it’s all progressing, but very slowly, and there’s a reasonable expectation the other capital funding investment would be there in this budget,” he said.
“We know with Beechworth and the Huon Middle Years Campus what the community is telling us about those two schools.
“Large parts of the (Middle Years) school are not used, they’re so dilapidated, they need the funding injection.”
If elected, a Liberal-National Victorian government will spend $116,000 on replacing the long drop toilets and other upgrades at Middle Indigo Primary School, and Mr Tilley said he would push for Benambra projects to be prioritised.
In pre-budget announcements made on Friday, The Alpine School, Wangaratta District Specialist School, Appin Park Primary School and Winton Primary School will share in $8.7 million.
Education Minister James Merlino said when the Andrews government came into power in 2014 there was a “giant backlog of school upgrades because the former government didn’t care about or invest in education”.
“We have now invested $775 million in regional and rural school infrastructure over four years, which is double what regional Victoria received under the Coalition,” he said.
“We have doubled investment in regional and rural school infrastructure, but we know there is always more to do and that is why we are making record investments.”
In 2014 there were around 400 schools across the state in poor condition – 214 of which were in regional and rural Victoria.
More than 150 of the 214 regional and rural schools have now received funding for an upgrade from the Andrews government.
Upgrades of all schools are part of the government's future budget considerations.