SA budget: pace quickens on school building program

The construction of two new schools for $261 million will be fast tracked by South Australia’s Liberal government.

Flinders Park Primary students Zachary Foxx, Keerthana Rajkumar, Andrew Turland and Joanna Kouros in the playground with their principal Judy Anderson yesterday. Picture: Tracey Nearmy

The construction of two new schools for $261 million will be fast tracked by South Australia’s Liberal government as part of a $1 billion-plus capital works program for the education sector.

The budget includes a significant increase in funding to schools, as revealed by The Australian, with total annual funding for education in 2021-22 to be $515m more than in 2017-18.

Treasurer Rob Lucas said the budget’s “massive increase in funding to schools” was the largest investment in education by any government in the state’s history.

Education Minister John Gardner said the budget marked a “significant turning point for the future of children and young people in our state”.

Mr Gardner pledged that two schools, previously announced by Labor and to be located in the northern suburb of Munro Para and the southern suburb of ­Aldinga, would be completed by the end of 2021, which he said was months earlier than originally ­intended.

Funded via a public-private partnership, each school will ­accommodate up to 1675 students from prep to Year 12.

Expressions of interest from the private sector would open in coming weeks, Mr Gardner said.

A new secondary school for Whyalla had been planned to be funded via a public-private partnership, but Mr Gardner said the $100m project would now be delivered by the government.

Almost $700m has also been set aside for the upgrade of public and primary schools over the next six years.

The government also reaffirmed its commitment to develop vocational training by partnering with the commonwealth to deliver a $202m initiative expected to create almost 21,000 apprenticeships and traineeships over the forward estimates.

A further $110m would be provided to TAFE SA over five years as Mr Gardner sought to give the organisation a “fresh start”.

A scathing Australian Skills Quality Authority audit last year resulted in a large number of qualifications being suspended after they were found to be non-compliant with national standards.

A subsequent independent “capability review”, tabled in parliament yesterday, concluded that “the last four years have been a lost opportunity for TAFE SA and for South Australia as a whole”.

Seven TAFE campuses, including the outback centres in Roxby Downs and Coober Pedy, will be closed, saving the government $32.8m over four years.

“A number of TAFE SA campuses are expensive to run, are not fit for purpose and are not well utilised,” Mr Gardner said.

Other savings measures include axing Labor’s plan to provide every Year 10 student with a laptop and reducing the state’s “non-teaching” workforce.

Recent NAPLAN results for numeracy, reading and spelling found South Australian remained lowest or second-lowest of all states in 17 of 20 domains. The government will spend $20.9m over the forward estimates on delivering its “literacy guarantee”.