NSW budget 2024: School toilets the main focus of a record $1bn ’minor works’ spend

Over a billion dollars will be spent fixing leaking roofs, broken fences, and defective dunnies in schools, in what the NSW government claims is a record spend on ‘minor works’.

A toilet block that is slowly sinking into the ground in a Western Sydney high school will finally be fixed as part of a billion dollar budget boost.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that next week’s budget will set aside a record $1.08 billion for “minor works” at schools, including $600 million for school maintenance work, $200 million to bust a backlog of small upgrades and refurbishments, and $150 million for improving disability access and safety.

In a blitz on bogs, toilet blocks will be a particular focus of the maintenance and repair work.

The cash for “minor works” is designed to lift standards of facilities and improve classrooms, science labs, and vocational education facilities.

The $600 million in maintenance work will be spent on things like new painting, repairs including roofs, fences, windows, and ceilings, and electrical works.

A toilet block that is slowly sinking into the ground at Bonnyrigg High School will be fixed under a $1 billion budget announcement, after a campaign from P&C President Ben Stewart. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

The $1.08bn allocated in next week’s budget for repairs and upgrades is almost $200 million more than the $818.4m set down for school “minor works” last year.

In 2023-24, the Education Department carried out 62,000 maintenance tasks across the public school network, including more than 837,800 square metres of painting – equivalent to painting the Harbour Bridge twice.

The Department installed enough flooring to cover the Penrith Panthers’ stadium field 37 times, and laid enough playground pavement to cover a dual carriageway road between Sydney CBD and Parramatta.

Workers also responded to more than 155,000 call-outs from public schools, including responding to almost 28,000 blocked toilets, leaking taps or sinks and 32,649 electrical faults.

Deputy Premier Prue Car will announce on Tuesday that Bonnyrigg High School will be one of the beneficiaries of the new funding in what has been dubbed Labor’s “back-to-basics budget”.

“Our public schools are the lifeblood of our communities, and we want teachers and students to feel proud to study and work in them – central to that is ensuring that they are maintained to a high standard and have the most up to date facilities,” she said.

Parents hope there will also be money to replace demountable classrooms at Bonnyrigg High Picture: NCA NewsWire

Bonnyrigg High School P&C President Ben Stewart welcomed the funding for crucial repairs, having launched a campaign to fix a sinking toilet block at his son’s school almost three years ago.

“The actual building is sinking and has been for a number of years, so it's a constant stress on our maintenance budget every year,” he said.

“We’re constantly paying to have the flooring pumped to be raised, (and) there are individual toilets that can’t be used, with doors falling off.”

Deputy Premier Prue Car says the $1.08bn for minor works in this year’s budget is a record. Picture: NewsWire

The toilet block is in a constant state of disrepair, he said.

Mr Stewart said he had “absolutely no response” lobbying the previous government for repairs.

“They would just pass the buck,” he said.

Next week’s threadbare budget will contain little in cost of living relief to families doing it tough, with Treasurer Daniel Mookhey battling billions of dollars in lost GST revenue.

Mr Mookhey has previously said this year’s budget will include “must-have” measures but “nice to have” initiatives will need to wait.

“Improving the conditions of NSW schools is a must-have to ensure that students and teachers have the best environment possible to learn and teach,” he said.

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