State budget: 13 new schools to be built with education package

Thirteen new schools will open and 65 campuses upgraded in an education spending blitz. These are where the new schools will be built.

All of the new schools are opening in high-growth outer suburbs of Melbourne.

Thirteen new schools will be built and 65 campuses upgraded under a $1.8bn education package in the state budget.

Metro students are the big winners, with all of the new schools opening in high-growth outer suburbs and none in regional areas.

The spending also includes priority upgrades of 36 more special schools.

However, much of the funding will not flow through until mid 2023, with only $2.4m out of $120m spent on essential maintenance this financial year.

Similarly, only $8m of the $234m for school upgrades will be spent in the next 12 months.

In the meantime, fast-growing schools will get $92m worth of relocatable classrooms to provide for extra places.

The state school funding comes on top of the $519m due to be spent on private primary schools and $556m on private secondary schools.

Some 1900 new teachers will be recruited to government schools.

The government will also recruit 1900 new teachers at a cost of $779m, giving existing teachers more time to prepare lessons and do marking and planning.

This is partly due to the union agreement for teachers to spend an hour a week less doing face-to-face teaching and another half-hour less in 2024.

The new VET/VCE pathway has also been funded at a cost of $277m and funding for four-year-old kindergarten will continue, budgeted at $131m.

The budget also allocates $131m for the Student Excellence Program, $24m for English as an Additional Language and $17m for maths and science specialist teachers.

The government has also committed $100m for TAFE including an expansion of the Apprenticeships Support Officers program.

The budget figures reveal kinder participation in the year before school is targeted to reach 96 per cent this financial year but was only at 92 per cent in 2021/22 and 89 per cent the year before.

NAPLAN performance is still below target, with 68 per cent of year 3 students above the bottom band for numeracy despite targets of 73 per cent. Other areas where NAPLAN targets are not met include year seven numeracy, year nine numeracy and year nine reading.

Education Minister James Merlino said: “every Victorian kid deserves the best start in life – no matter where they live, where they came from or what their abilities are- and we know that starts with a first-rate education”.

Mr Merlino said the government was on track to deliver 100 schools by 2026.

New metro schools in 2024

Aintree Secondary School

Aintree Specialist School

Alexander Boulevard Primary School

Black Forest East Primary School

Brookfield Primary School

Lockerbie Central Primary School

Lollypop Creek Secondary School

Lollypop Creek Specialist School

Merrifield South Primary School

Officer Brunt Road Primary School

Riverdale Secondary School

Tarneit North Primary School

Truganina North Primary School

Metro upgrades

Banyan Fields Primary School

Bentleigh Secondary College

Bittern Primary School

Bundoora Secondary College

Coldstream Primary School

Diggers Rest Primary School

Doreen Primary School

Hawthorn West Primary School

Kingston Heath Primary School

Laburnum Primary School

Merri Creek Primary School

Moonee Ponds West Primary School

Mordialloc Beach Primary School

Mount Pleasant Road Nunawading Primary School

Pascoe Vale Primary School

Reservoir High School

Sandringham East Primary School

St Albans Heights Primary School

The Patch Primary School

Wantirna College

Westgarth Primary School

Yarra Primary School

Regional upgrades

Benalla P12 College

Darley Primary school

East Loddon P12 College

Grasmere Primary School

Mount Rowan Secondary College

Wedderburn College

Yinnar Primary School