School buildings under scrutiny

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
AUDITORS will assess the maintenance needs of every government school in the Gembrook electorate.
Education Minister Martin Dixon and Gembrook MP Brad Battin visited several schools across the electorate, including Yarra Junction, Warburton and Wesburn Primary School.
Mr Battin said auditors would visit every Victorian Government school over the next six months to assess the state of the facilities.
Each school will also share in additional maintenance funding.
“Last week, Education Minister Martin Dixon and I visited several primary schools in the Gembrook electorate,” he said.
“We were shown paint peeling off ceilings, rotting window frames, and a covered walkway with basketball-sized holes in the roof.”
The audit is part of a $100 million Victorian Coalition Government boost to school maintenance funding.
Mr Dixon said: “The Coalition Government’s maintenance funding boost will reverse Labor’s cuts to maintenance funding, which dropped from $73 million in 2000-01 to just $59 million in 2009-10, a 20 per cent cut over 10 years.”
The audit, expected to be finalised by next May, will assess the condition of all rooms in schools, outbuildings and covered walkways and will enable maintenance funding to be targeted to urgent projects and provide principals with the information they need to better direct their annual maintenance funding.