Daniel Andrews comes to Catholics’ aid with $400m schools fund

The Victorian government has promised to triple its investment in the non-government schooling sector over the next four year.

‘A really vibrant community’: Lisieux Catholic Primary School principal Susan Ryan with pupils Zander, Louie, Indie and Mira. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

The Victorian government has promised to triple its investment in the non-government schooling sector over the next four years, ­announcing a $400 million capital works fund to upgrade and build new schools.

With an additional 90,000 students to flood Victorian schools by 2022, the proposed funding aims to stimulate investment by the non-government sector in building new schools, particularly in Melbourne’s fast-growing outer suburbs.

Making the announcement yesterday, seven weeks out from the state election, Premier Daniel Andrews said he expected hundreds of projects to be funded, with Catholic schools to be the main beneficiary.

The fund is a significant boon for the Catholic sector and follows the recent news that it will share in an additional $4.6 billion in federal support over the next decade. It has disappointed the teachers union, however, which is still reeling from what it describes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s “special deal” for the sector.

Mr Andrews said the state government had announced 70 new government schools over the past two years but, given population projections, it was unable to meet future demand on its own.

In the case of the fast-growing Wyndham municipality alone, including suburbs of Werribee, Point Cook, Hoppers Crossing and ­Tarneit, about 450 babies — enough to fill a primary school — are born each month.

“We simply cannot educate all of our kids across Victoria without partnership with Catholic schools and other independent schools,” Mr Andrews said.

He said more than 30 per cent of students attended Catholic and other independent schools and the government supported parental choice when it came to schooling. Recipients of grants would predominantly be low-fee parish schools and regional colleges.

“This partnership will allow us to upgrade existing facilities and make sure in growing suburbs of Melbourne, and indeed in some regional centres, we can have more … brand new schools being built,” Mr Andrews said.

Independent Schools Victoria and the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria welcomed the investment, which represents a significant increase from the $120m allocated in 2014.

“Catholic education already runs the second-largest school system in the state, providing a quality education for close to a quarter of Victoria’s schoolchildren,” CECV executive director Stephen Elder said.

Australian Education Union Victorian president Meredith Peace said members working in public schools would be disappointed, given that the bulk of new school enrolments would be in government schools.

CECV has opened five new schools across Melbourne this year and several in regional Victoria, including Lisieux Catholic Primary School in Torquay North.

Kicking off with 43 students in an old house on the site, the school expects to have 130 students ­enrolled by the time its new main building is completed by the start of the 2019 school year. The school — the second Catholic primary school in the Surf Coast town — will receive $4m from the state fund. “In Torquay North there is a lot of land opening up and new families investing in the area and it’s fast becoming a really vibrant community,” said principal Susan Ryan.