Charlotte Varcoe
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A 20-YEAR school infrastructure plan has classified schools across the Limestone Coast as low to very low priority.
The plan – which was recently released by the state government – highlights a number of priorities for public schools in an aim to ensure all children and young people in the state have access to high quality education.
According to the plan there are about 5700 buildings across 900 public schools, preschools and children centres in South Australia.
The average building age in the schools is about 44 years with the projected proportion of assets assumed to be at or beyond end of life at schools expected to grow to 75 per cent by 2052.
It states 35 per cent of all buildings within the Department for Education’s portfolio was past its design life while the population continues to grow at 1.58 per cent per annum.
One step towards the strategic opportunities outlined in the plan included the $6m for Mount Gambier High School to “leverage the opportunity” and also “build links” to future industries including multi-trades and agri-tech.
The plan outlined the need for education infrastructure to “respond to population growth” and “provide spaces and assets” which would “enable and promote” modern, flexible and relevant education.
It also notes the state government investment into a new secondary school in Munno Para and a new co-located pre-school and primary school in Mount Barker.
There will also be the construction of new schools, targeted intervention and infrastructure investment, the establishment of a dedicated forecasting unit, growing maturity of the universal school improvement model and targeted school improvement through infrastructure investment, marketing and specialisation.
Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell said while the document was welcome, the Limestone Coast had once again been left behind.
The document labelled the region as a low to very low risk of prioritisation with low to very low likelihood and consequence of infrastructure failure.
The areas in the plan identified as high risk were close to metropolitan areas.
As critical first steps, the plan said investments would include significant upgrades and building replacements in Bellevue Heights, Surrey Downs and Mount Barker.
Mr Bell said he was disappointed the plan did not have the South East public schools in a more prominent position.
“If I visited every public school, both primary and secondary, it is quite obvious that our schools need essential maintenance and upgrades carried out,” Mr Bell said.
“We need to see a major investment in our public schools and I am talking about physical infrastructure so we need a major investment to compete with Catholic and independent schools in our region.”
He said public schools should “always be striving to do better” and he was very confident in the quality of education being delivered.
“I want to see a greater focus on the maintenance and physical appearance of our public schools,” Mr Bell said.
He said he did not agree with the South East being labelled as a low to very low risk and called on the state government to ensure public schools in the region were given the same priority as metropolitan schools.
“When you look at it, the amount that is spent on some of the schools in Adelaide is tens-of-millions of dollars,” Mr Bell said.
“Some of our schools have large population numbers and deserve equitable consideration.”
Mr Bell said he had already flagged a number of schools to the Minister of Education Blair Boyer during a fly-in-fly-out visit this week.
“We will be continuing the dialogue and working together to make sure our South East is looked after in an appropriate manner,” he said.
Member for MacKillop Nick McBride said a number of school infrastructure in his regions were closer to 50 years on average.
“The stumps are rusting out, the weather cladding is rotting out, the windows are rotting out and we have some sort of upgrade on some of these buildings where they can,” Mr McBride said.
“We have also seen some demolition of these buildings where they were not fit for any sort of modifications or repair.”
He said principals expressed concerns about technical and internet services not being keeping up to speed, bathrooms deteriorating and a lack of modernisation.
“I did not really expect a great heap of announcements or huge amounts of money being spent in this budget, but I am getting prepared to work with the minister about what the next budget looks like,” Mr McBride said.
Minister for Education Blair Boyer said the plan would benefit the regions with the criteria set out in the plan.
“The plan talks about where we need to invest the money that we do get and we have got a lot of need out there,” Mr Boyer said.
“That story is the same across every state and territory when I meet with other education ministers.”
He said it was getting harder to keep up with not just maintenance as well as refurbishing and building new classrooms.
“Part of that is due to the aging stock we have and having a lot to build around at a similar time which is getting beyond its useful life,” Mr Boyer said.
“This plan talks about the things we will look at when we are deciding where we put that money and that includes obvious things like the state and condition of the school.”
He said the South East were prioritised low to very low due to the condition of the stock and terms around enrolment pressures.
“By a considerable factor it is the northern suburbs in terms of our need to build new schools and more capacity at those schools for what is the fastest growing part of South Australia,” he said.
“That is one of the criteria around where do we have enrolment pressures and where do we need to build more sites and the reason the Limestone Coast might not be as high up that priority list in terms of this criteria.”
He said the state government had previously invested $3m into Yahl Primary School as well as the up-and-coming technical college and the recently announced $6m for Mount Gambier High School.
