Stuart parents to take fight against State Government closure of school to court

STUART State School parents will take the government to court if a petition asking for the school to remain open for another 12 months is rejected.

Karen Mortimer with children Stewie, 4, Cheyenne, 5, Ethan, 1, and Maverick, 7, in front of the Stuart Primary School, are prepared to do all they can to ensure the government takes notice of their needs. Picture: Fiona Harding

STUART State School parents will take the Queensland Government to court if a petition asking for the school to remain open for another 12 months is rejected.

Townsville mum Karen Mortimer is leading the charge to keep not only her children's school open, but five others around the State.

Her petition is sponsored by Opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk and calls on the government for more time to investigate cash-flow opportunities, such as public daycare centres, and work through genuine concerns regarding the viability of each school.

Ms Mortimer said her group didn't want to take the matter to court but had already gained sponsorship from individuals, businesses and law firms statewide who were willing to fund the action should the petition be ignored.

"We've issued the Education Minister and Director General with a statement of reason which is basically a request for their reasons for wanting to close the schools," Ms Mortimer said.

"They have 28 days to respond ... and we will then have 28 days to submit our reasons to the court.

"We don't want to do this, but we will do it. We're hoping it gets resolved at the petition level."

Ms Mortimer said she disagreed parents should "move on" and enrol children in another school.

"Where our kids go to school is a decision families should make, not the government," she said.

"If you have kids or live in Queensland, down the track this could be any school put up for closure. Now is the time to get this process right ... for schools and parents and teachers.

"It might be closing our choice of school today, but tomorrow it could be something else. The Government needs to know the people of Queensland expect to be consulted."

Ms Palaszczuk said the Newman Government's plan to sell off schools was short-sighted.

"The government and the Education Minister claim schools like Stuart are past their use-by date but ... these are historic, well attended, high-achieving schools that don't deserve to be axed," she said.

"The Education Minister and the Premier have looked at these schools with dollar signs in their eyes. They saw that Stuart and the Fortitude Valley State School in Brisbane were located in prime development areas and that is their motivation, pure and simple."

To sign the petition visit www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/e-petitions and click on Save Our Schools.