Water left off school block

KOUMALA State School in Queensland has a new resource centre with toilet, shower and kitchenette thanks to the BER - but no water.

KOUMALA State School, on an isolated stretch of the Bruce Highway in central Queensland, has a popular new resource centre with a toilet, shower and kitchenette thanks to the federal government's Building the Education Revolution scheme -- but no water.

The 100-student school's new resource centre cost taxpayers $850,000, but it is only semi-functional, as the facilities are not plumbed to the school's septic system or the water supply.

Parents and Citizens president Karen Leigh said the community couldn't properly use the new facilities - which were all but completed last February - and there was no money left to connect it to the water supply.

"We've got a kitchenette we can't use, we've got a toilet we can't use and we've got a shower we can't use," Ms Leigh told The Australian. "I just don't understand how they did all the facilities, and all the planning for it, and then when it came down to hooking up the water there was no money."

Locals estimate connecting the block to the mains sewerage and water system could cost up to $50,000.

Taxpayers funded $925,250 in upgrades to the four-teacher school, about 60km south of Mackay, as part of Labor's $16 billion BER program.

As well as the $850,000 resource centre, the school was granted $36,000 to refurbish the tuckshop, $32,500 to install electronic whiteboards and data projectors and $6750 for other refurbishments.

Education Queensland said that during construction the P&C elected to have a storeroom in the new building reconfigured to allow for a disabled-access toilet and shower "to be fitted in the future".

Central Queensland regional director Wayne Butler said a portion of the $850,000 funding had been set aside for "contingencies" and could be released back to the school.

"If the school wishes to proceed with these additional facilities they will be able to use this contingency funding to assist in covering the cost of works," he said in a statement.

The school community understood there was no more funding and set about fundraising to complete the work.

Long-serving local Liberal National Party state parliamentarian Ted Malone said the school required the facilities.

"It really goes to the crux of what was happening in rural Queensland with these BER buildings," Mr Malone said.

"They certainly were a benefit for some of the areas that don't have a community hall but we already have a good little hall in Koumala.

"We shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, I suppose, but we seem to have over-capitalised on halls."

A spokeswoman for federal Employment Minister Bill Shorten, who is responsible for BER spending, said state education authorities were responsible for managing its implementation.