Low maintenance

By Kath Gannaway
MILLWARRA Primary School campuses at East Warburton and Millgrove are typical of schools which are being starved of maintenance funding according to Evelyn MP Christine Fyffe.
Responding to an announcement of a $20m dollar injection of additional maintenance funding in February, Ms Fyffe said it was not enough and criticised the State Government for failing to keep up with the real maintenance needs of schools.
“As a regular visitor, I have seen first hand the urgent need for maintenance in some Yarra Ranges primary and secondary schools,” Ms Fyffe said.
“The pressure is mounting as some schools face a serious backlog of vital maintenance.”
Patching up holes and leaking roofs, two issues facing Millwarra Primary School principal Rod Barnard at both the East Warburton and Millgrove campuses, are “classic examples” of complaints Ms Fyffe said she hears from schools on a regular basis.
Millwarra received $1758 additional funding for the two campuses.
Other schools receiving the additional funding include Upper Yarra Secondary College and Yarra Junction Primary School which will receive $130,000 each for toilet upgrades.
Eight other local primary schools will receive between $1000 and $2563.
While a number of schools contacted by the Mail declined to comment, most agreed maintenance is an ongoing burden for which there is never enough money.
Mr Barnard said despite receiving $25,000 last year to cover maintenance works which were picked up in an audit of the two campuses, the schools were virtually falling down.
“East Warburton is a maze where they have plonked the administration building on the play area and some of the other classrooms are very much in need of maintenance,” he said.
Ms Fyffe sympathised with principals who she said have to juggle inadequate budgets.
“Principals have it tough,” she said. “They are constantly forced to make difficult decisions that pit the prioritisation of a child’s education needs against their physical safety.”
She said schools are constantly playing catch up due to funding shortfalls.
“The money will often get diverted to fund emergency repairs for heating and cooling breakdowns or toilet blockages.
“Therefore, the money is not for maintenance but rather for repairs on dilapidated equipment.”
Ms Fyffe said schools most desperately in need of increased maintenance funding were forced to rely on charity and Mr Barnard agreed. “We have to fund-raise otherwise we would not survive,” he said.
“It’s disgraceful that parents have to fork out money on top of school fees when many parents are struggling to keep up their own maintenance needs at home,” Ms Fyffe added.
While Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato said the additional funding would enable schools to address high priority maintenance and repair work, Ms Fyffe called on Education Minister Bronwyn Pike to re-evaluate the Government’s commitment to school maintenance.
A bigger slice of the $800 million budget surplus needed to be set aside to eradicate the maintenance backlog, she said.