Class squeeze

By Monique Ebrington
WARBURTON Primary School staff and school council say they feel restricted by State Government criteria on how a $2 million cash boost must be spent.
The 116 student school is one of hundreds of Victorian state and private primary schools to receive millions of dollars thanks to Federal and State Government stimulus spending.
Warburton Primary School President Chris Rockiki said that the school council was happy about the announced $1.27 million from the Federal Government that will go towards partly rebuilding the school’s facilities.
However, he said the State Government allocation of $730,000, announced in last week’s State Budget, was disappointing.
“We are disappointed that the amount committed by the State Government is so small and believe they are shirking their responsibility to adequately fund teaching spaces in schools,” Mr Rockiki said.
Mr Rockiki said that the school was invited to submit an application to the State Government’s Building Futures program late last year under which the school could have received up to $2 million.
He said the State Government was wrong to claim it was giving Warburton Primary School $2 million when only $730,000 was coming out of its own coffers.
Mr Rockiki said the Sate Government had attached its own interpretation to the federal funding and fears, as a consequence, teachers and students will not receive the facilities they desire.
“The approach of the State Government toward the use of federal funds from the Building the Educational Revolution program has stripped away our ability to build a multi-purpose joint-use facility for our community, which was a Federal Government priority,” he said.
“These funds, it seems, must now be spent on classrooms, a state responsibility.”
He also said that the State Government was not only dictating where the funding would go but also providing the school with little information on what the funding will actually be going into.
“We have been frustrated at the lack of information and consultation about the whole project to this point and hope this is improved upon and an informed, sensible and flexible consultation process will begin soon,” he said.
Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato said that she intends to continue working with Warburton Primary School to ensure all parties are happy.
“While I acknowledge that the principals are not entirely happy with the $2 million in funding, I believe that the Warburton and other primary school communities are very excited about what $2 million in funding will provide for their school facilities,” Ms Lobato said. “In terms of the suggestion of inflexibility, I am advised by Julia Gillard that that flexibility to design templates will be considered according to the needs of the school.”