Infrastructure Victoria report finds big schools could save taxpayers $1.5bn

The Allan government is being advised to save on education infrastructure costs by building larger schools and expanding existing schools using relocatables.

Mount Pleasant Road Primary School doubles as a three and four-year-old kinder. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Building bigger new schools in growth areas and expanding existing campuses with relocatables could save taxpayers $1.5 billion, a new report says.

Infrastructure Victoria on Tuesday released advice to the Allan Government on the state’s bricks and mortar needs for education until 2036, when more than 8.4 million people are expected to live here.

It shows about 900 new kindergartens and up to 60 new government schools should be built, as well as extra 125,000 square metres of TAFE space.

The report was focused solely on infrastructure needs, so did not model the number of staff required to teach in the new facilities, which will be significant.

A whopping 95 per cent of up to 60 new schools are forecast to be needed in Melbourne’s fastest growing council areas, which include Wyndham and Melton in the west, Whittlesea in the north, and Casey in the southeast.

But this could be slashed to 35 – and reduce costs from $7.2bn to $5.7bn – if existing schools were expanded using relocatables and new schools were built larger.

Mount Pleasant Road Primary School students Jordan, 10, Tate, 3, and Andrew, 7. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Kindergartens will be one of the biggest infrastructure needs in Victoria over the next decade, and are likely to cost about $17bn to build and allow for 138,000 new places for three- and four-year-old children.

The bill for taxpayers is likely to be between $6bn and $11bn, depending on how the private and non-profit sectors are engaged and land required.

Chief executive of Infrastructure Victoria, Dr Jonathan Spear, said investment in early education returned $2 for every $1 spent, and that governments should focus on using taxpayer cash in areas where private and non-profit providers are “less likely to invest”.

This would require publishing priority areas for kindergarten investments across the state and sharing information with other potential investors.

Dr Spear said the government was on track with a commitment to build 100 new schools by 2026, and that the report shows the best value proposition going forward.

“Our modelling shows the best way to deliver the schools we will need beyond 2026 is to build larger new schools and expand existing schools where there is land to do so,” he said.

“We’re recommending the government begin this delivery and expansion before 2030.”

The report points to how kindergartens and schools are sometimes co-located to share land or community facilities, which also can produce “more social and environmental benefits than locating them in isolation”.

Mount Pleasant Road Primary School in Nunawading has kindergarten programs attached to the school campus and principal Kim Streitberger said one of the benefits was the transition for young students.

“Moving into Prep, all they have to do is put on a uniform,” she said.

Mum-of-four Leonie, whose two eldest boys go to the primary school while her 3-year-old attends the kindergarten, said the integration of the two streams of education was a bonus.
“The kinder kids get included in things like our sports nights, our Christmas party that we just had,” she said.

“Teachers move between the kinder and the school, they are familiar faces across the school.”

The report also recommends new investment in TAFE should focus on expanding campuses in growing suburbs to train more students to fill skills gaps – especially in construction, energy and health.