School's dustbowl oval becomes marginal matter

DESPERATE parents have written to local MPs and Liberal candidates in Victorian marginal seats to beg for $55,000 for their school oval.

Elena O'Malley says BER costs have prevented Manifold Heights Primary School from fixing up its oval. Picture: Stuart Mcevoy

DESPERATE parents have written to local MPs and Liberal candidates in Victorian marginal seats to beg for $55,000 for their school oval.

They say it was left bare when government cuts to the federal Building the Education Revolution program - due to revised building costs - meant the school had to use funding originally saved to resurface the oval to buy furniture and air-conditioners "to ensure that learning facilities are at an acceptable standard".

Manifold Heights Primary School now has no grassed oval or anywhere children can play sport at lunchtime, with parents describing it as a "very sad-looking dustbowl".

The school is in the Geelong region, where Premier John Brumby has visited twice in the first three days of the election campaign in an attempt to retain seats for Labor.

The Liberals need an 8.4 per cent swing to win the seat of Geelong, which is surrounded by other marginals like South Barwon at 2.3 per cent and Bellarine at 8 per cent.

Labor won the seat of Geelong from the Liberals in their surprise victory in 1999 and it is a crucial part of their electoral battle to retain the regions.

The pleas of the parents at Manifold follow complaints at another school in the electorate, Montpellier Primary School, who told local media they have been without their playground equipment for 12 months due to the BER.

Manifold Heights school council president Elena O'Malley wrote in the letter to local MPs and candidates that their $2.5 million library and classrooms project ended up being rather different due to additional costs.

"As a result of budget cuts by the government, what we will end up with at the time of completion is not what was originally planned," she said in the email, seen by The Australian.

"Due to this revision, unfortunately, we now do not have the funds to complete the school to a standard that allows students to have an oval complete with grass for play and physical education activities."

The school had obtained several quotes to "irrigate and lay turf" on the oval and it would cost about $55,000. "The oval in its current condition is a very sad-looking dustbowl . . . This is where we would appreciate assistance with a donation for the $55,000."

Ms O'Malley told The Australian last night she was not "ungrateful" for the BER project, but the "template design" did not fit the site or did not come with air-conditioning which was "simply unacceptable" for children in the summer. She said this meant that money saved by the school to repair the oval had to be spent to finish the buildings.

Opposition education spokesman Martin Dixon said this was another example of the Brumby government's mismanagement of the BER. "Another school has been left short-changed and struggling," he said.

A spokesman for Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said the department provided air-conditioning to schools according to the highest needs based on a climate index.

He said the department would contact the school to "resolve any concerns it may have about the state of its oval" and new play equipment would be provided for students at Montpellier Primary.