Australian Education Union SA branch demands funding boost for dilapidated Adelaide public schools
Teachers have revealed crumbling classrooms across South Australia, including fallen ceilings and broken toilets, as their union demands urgent funding.
Caved-in ceilings, toilet cubicles without doors and ancient airconditioning units are among hundreds of examples of crumbling classrooms exposed by the state’s teachers union in a push for increased funding ahead of the state election.
Teachers have flooded the Australian Education Union (AEU) SA branch with reports which also include classrooms with no temperature control, windows that won’t open, playground safety concerns and accessibility restrictions.
AEU SA President Jennie-Marie Gorman is calling on the state government and opposition to commit to a “basic minimum standard” for public school infrastructure ahead of the March 2026 election.
“These are not luxuries,” Ms Gorman said.
“It is time to end the culture of good (school) zones and commit to a future where every student feels proud of where they learn.”
One principal at a large northern suburbs high school told the union that recent storms had caused damage to woodworking and electronics calssrooms “which highlighted just how worn our buildings have become”.
“Our staff and students always adapt, but relocating classes and reshuffling programs disrupts continuity. You can see the impact on engagement and routine,” she said.
Photographs of public metropolitan schools provided to The Advertiser by the AEU SA show water damaged ceilings, including a classroom where ceiling panels have fallen out, exposing airconditioning ducting in the roof space.
In another image a table is covered in debris, which appears to have fallen from the ceiling.
Other images show a crumbling, weather damaged window frame and a large hole in a classroom wall.
There are about 5700 buildings on campuses across the state at more than 900 public schools, preschools and children’s centres.
SA Association of School Parent Communities president Jenice Zerna said schools “should not be judged on their buildings when the standard of teaching is strong across the public system.”
However, former Mt Gambier High School principal and education bureaucrat Garry Costello said parents were “driving their children across town to what they think is a more desirable public school, or a private one, because their zoned school has been neglected for decades”.
Education Minister Blair Boyer said he was committed to “making every school a great school in South Australia”.
“We know more is needed for infrastructure in our schools.That’s why I implemented the 20-year infrastructure plan,” he said.
In the most recent state Budget the government allocated $40m to upgrades at public schools, including to heating and airconditionging units.
Opposition education apokeswoman Heidi Girolamo funding for school repairs and maintenance was “tied to student numbers, not to the age or condition of the buildings – meaning that some of our oldest and most rundown schools are missing out on critical upgrades”.
“I’ve visited schools like Beachport Primary, where the roof of a classroom literally collapsed. That’s simply untenable and it should never take a near-miss or a disaster for the government to act,” she said.
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Originally published as Australian Education Union SA branch demands funding boost for dilapidated Adelaide public schools
