School growth creates teacher jobs and fast-track spending on building upgrades
SA’s public schools will receive a share in $37m in grants for school improvements – but it must be spent in 2021.
SA News
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Schools will be able to snap up a share of $37m extra funding for improvements in a move to create local trade jobs and improve classrooms and school yards.
Education Minister John Gardner said the grants would be given to school principals and governing councils.
“Our $37m maintenance package will be welcomed by government schools and preschools across the state, who will have no shortage of projects to undertake with this funding, while also providing a massive boost for local businesses and tradies,”
Grants of $20,000 to $100,000 for schools and $30,000 for preschools will be available – but the money must be spent in 2021.
Treasurer Rob Lucas said it was money that did not have to go through a central procurement process in the Education Department.
“That’ll be spent on local painters, local carpenters, local tilers, local landscapers and the like right across the state,’
“The money will be given to the school, the principal and governing council.”
It comes as rising enrolments in public schools are expected to create nearly 2000 more jobs for teachers and support staff.
The Budget brings forward $66.9m of capital spending to this and next financial year from the following two years to cope with enrolment growth.
There will be a mixture of “traditional and modular” buildings, Budget papers say.
Enrolments were 2657 up this calendar year to 177,421 students and preschoolers and the trend is expected to continue.
Spending is tipped to increase by $805m by 2023-24 from $2.7bn in 2019-20, with 1768 more employees than the 24,865 full-time equivalents last financial year.
Mawson Lakes Preschool director Sandra Cattel said she always looked for extra resources coming from budgets.
As well as the maintenance grants, preschools were allocated $1.5m for fast broadband connections.
The Budget supports non-government schools by topping up a loan scheme for capital investment to $320m. The total includes $122m which was previously allocated.
Non-government schools can also apply for grants for capital works with $11.6m added to a fund which now would total $23m.
“The expansion of the school loans scheme, providing interest free loans for the first five years of the loan term, will support non-government schools to deliver significant upgrades to their facilities and will keep even more shovels in the ground for the construction sector in South Australia,” Mr Gardner said.
“We are also continuing our major investment in technology with a $1.5 million ICT cabling upgrade for government preschools that complements our statewide high-speed fibre optic internet rollout, which has already been rolled out to nearly every government school in SA and is well on the way to reaching every government preschool and children’s centre.
“We are proud to be investing record funding into education as we continue the job of improving educational outcomes for students, transitioning Year 7 into high school and delivering a generational upgrade of schools across the state.”
Some $2m a year will be provided to assist regional schools with transport for students.
The Budget covers the previously announced investment in a high school at Goolwa.
