BER hall so small it can't hold 39 kids

ROB Oakeshott's northern NSW electorate has thrown up several examples of waste and mismanagement under the Building the Education Revolution scheme.

ROB Oakeshott's northern NSW electorate has thrown up several examples of waste and mismanagement under the Building the Education Revolution scheme.

Most famously, Hastings Public School was to be charged $900,000 for a covered outdoor learning area or COLA, essentially a large shed with no walls.

While the Member for Lyne "raised concerns" before the election over the rollout of the program, his stance on the issue will be tested should he accept a position in the Gillard cabinet.

The Australian has uncovered another troubled BER project in his electorate - a request for a $100,000 school hall that blew out to about four times that amount.

Huntingdon Public School, 20 minutes west of Mr Oakeshott's home town of Port Macquarie, currently has 39 students from Kindergarten through to Year 6.

And, for as long as anyone can remember, the children have had to travel to the civic centre in nearby Wauchope to attend special assemblies. "We simply haven't had a building at the school that was big enough to fit everyone in," said Huntingdon's P&C secretary, Helen Atkins.

So when the school community learned in June last year that they were to receive $250,000 funding for a new "multi-purpose" school hall under the federal government's $16 billion schools stimulus package, there was "much excitement", according to Ms Atkins.

But the collective joy quickly subsided when the P&C was shown plans for their BER building a few weeks after the funding announcement was made. It was obvious that the 10m by 7.5m facility on offer did not go close to meeting the school's needs.

It was much the same size as a standard demountable classroom, and was certainly not large enough to hold the school's 39 students, let alone an audience.

In 2007, the school paid just $10,000 for the construction of a 10m by 5m COLA - highlighting the huge price inflation under the BER program.

In 2008, before the BER program, the school decided to start raising money to build a proper hall. The size and cost was to be based on a 20m by 9.5m hall that had just been built at Dundurrabin Public School, near Coffs Harbour, for $100,000.

But once the BER program was rolled out, the NSW Education Department informed the school that to build a hall similar to the one at Dundurrabin would now cost $420,000, and could therefore not be accommodated within Huntingdon's BER budget allocation of $250,000.

Instead, the managing contractor, The Reed Group, proposed to add a 5m by 5m extension to the school's exisiting 10m by 5m covered outdoor learning area at a cost of $250,000.

Further requested alterations, including the removal of a roller door, were knocked back by the education department because by that stage, the project's cost had blown out to $338,380, which was $88,380 over budget.

Ms Atkins said one of the teachers was "close to tears" when the extent of the financial waste became apparent. "A lot of people were upset. And the local farmers around here were bemused. They all have sheds, obviously, and they were saying that you don't see many sheds that cost close to $350,000."

In a newsletter circulated to the Huntingdon P&C on June 4 this year, it was claimed the school's principal Gunnar Fuhrmann had been told that "time was running out", so the school "had to adopt the extended COLA plan or we were in danger of not receiving anything".

Under the BER, private schools manage their own projects while the department of education employs managing contractors such as The Reed Group to run the projects at public schools.

In the June 4 newsletter, Mr Fuhrmann told the school community: "We will not be receiving any furniture, curtains, plants, a covered walkway or security lighting. What has our school gained?

"Not a hall but a 21st century 5m by 5m extension to our existing COLA on one end and an enclosed 5m by 5m extension on the other. The cost of our BER-Multi Purpose Space so far is a staggering amount of $338,380 with additional expenses still to be added."

Ms Atkins said that after considerable consultation with the NSW education department - and after a visit from members of the the BER taskforce in early June - the P&C and Mr Fuhrmann were now satisfied that a school hall that will roughly match the 20m by 9.5m structure at Dundurrabin will be built by the end of the year.

Mr Oakeshott did not respond to requests for comment.