State government's $850m upgrade fail leaves 92 schools waiting years for new facilities

The state government has quietly backed down on an election promise to deliver 96 school upgrade projects by 2026, leaving dozens of campuses waiting years for updated facilities. See if your school makes the list.

The government has backed down on a promise to complete these works by the next election. Picture: Brandan McGlynn

Victoria’s $850m school upgrade blitz has bombed, with only five projects completed so far out of 96 promised before the last election.

Years after being announced with great fanfare, only 18upgrades are in the construction phase, 44 are still being designed and 29 have stalled completely, with no funding committed or completion date offered.

The government has backed down on a promise to complete these works by the next election in November 2026, with Education Minister Ben Carroll now committing to only fund the projects, not finish them by this time.

One government insider said the state budget is “cooked”, leading to the frantic deferral of minor projects such as school modernisation works.

The delays are leading to students and staff putting up with ancient buildings full of asbestos, leaks, uneven floors and portables with no disabled access.

It’s also costing schools up to $152m a year on relocatable classrooms, ongoing maintenance and urgent repairs and an additional $200m on construction cost blowouts.

In October 2022, then Premier Daniel Andrews pledged to spend $850m upgrading 89 schools in a pre-election spending spree. The list has now expended to include 96 upgrades.

The latest commitment included 25 upgrades in the 2024-25 budget, but construction has only started at one school, Mulgrave Primary.

Questions are also being asked about the price and timing of the works, with a new toilet block at Cheltenham Secondary College taking up to four years and costing $400,000 to complete – twice the cost of a basic new home build.

Cheltenham Secondary College has been waiting for a new toilet block for four years.

Nationals MP Danny O’Brien has also claimed one school – Leongatha Secondary College – received $11m for an upgrade “no one asked for”.

At Essendon Primary, a $2.6m plan to replace asphalt courts with synthetic turf has taken three years so far and was originally estimated to cost $199,000 back in 2018.

Works at Gladstone Park Secondary College are still in the design phase and not due to be completed until late 2026.

The school’s upgrade was heralded by former Minister for Education Natalie Hutchins in 2022, but three years later, Josh Bull, a Labor MP, asked her successor, Ben Carroll for “the latest information on design and planning for significant upgrades at Gladstone Park Secondary”.

A number of school upgrades first flagged in 2022 are not expected to be finished until the end of 2026, including works at Bethal Primary, Carlton North Primary, Clayton South Primary and Bayswater South Primary.

Coburg High’s major upgrade, first given initial funding in mid 2021, is finally in the construction phase.

The five completed works out of the 89 include a $310,000 three-year project to upgrade toilets, water taps and fencing at Fleetwood Primary and $587,000 on building covers for outdoor hardcourts at Cranbourne East Secondary College.

The delays are leading to students and staff putting up with ancient buildings full of asbestos, leaks, uneven floors and portables with no disabled access.

There are also more than 20 minor capital projects, primarily for refurbished toilets and roof repairs, which are taking at least two years to complete, and as long as four years.

Liberal MP Trung Luu said the funding delays led to Manorvale Primary School in his electorate “making short-term fixes to major issues that arise, meaning the students and teaching staff are walking on uneven floors and enduring water leaks from ceilings across the school”.

“In 2025 it is unacceptable that a school must endure such substandard facilities,” he said.

It comes as dozens of other schools are forced to put up with substandard facilities because they missed out on funding altogether.

Greens MP Sarah Mansfield said Winchelsea Primary School’s poor condition posed “health and safety risks including asbestos, lack of fencing and some buildings that are over 100 years old”.

Education Minister Ben Carroll said: “We will deliver funding on every promised school upgrade to give Victorian kids the best education in the Education State.”

“We have delivered more than 2200 modern facilities upgrades at over 1150 government schools and are on track to open 100 new schools by 2026,” he said.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said it was “all but certain Labor has broken its promise to deliver these desperately needed projects by November 2026”.

“The Allan Labor Government has put a go-slow on these upgrades and the needs of students on pause as it scrambles to pay Victoria’s soon-to-be one million dollar an hour interest bill,” she said.

Edithvale Primary school council president Andrew Murray and vice president Katie Tobin are calling for funding for a shade sail. Picture: Mark Stewart

Edithvale Primary parents say kids desperate for shade area

Parents at Edithvale Primary are desperate for a shade for their asphalt basketball courts, dubbing it “the most barren school in the area”.

Katie Tobin, a member of the school council and mother to one child at the school, said there was “nowhere for the kids to shelter and nowhere shaded for them to play”.

The school has been asking for more than four years for a $270,000 sail across half the basketball courts but keeps getting knocked back.

“At a recent school leadership assembly it was so hot we had to move inside so only years fives and sixes could be there,” Ms Tobin said.

“And at our Christmas concert, it was so hot that two toddlers got heat stroke.”

Ms Tobin said the school’s 540 students stood in the rain for more than an hour during a recent emergency evacuation.

A Department of Education spokesman said the school “received two grants totalling more than $125,000 in recent years”. Picture: Mark Stewart

Even teachers are now petitioning Education Minister Ben Carroll asking for the outdoor shade, with one saying that the “old, rough, black asphalt surface” is too hot for children to play on when the weather is over 30 degrees.

A Department of Education spokesman said the school “received two grants totalling more than $125,000 in recent years, supporting the school to build an outdoor sensory play space and a shaded outdoor learning area”.

This included $25,000 for shade sails over a small playground.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said shade sails would make a large difference for the Edithvale School community.

“It’s rejection is a reflection of Victoria’s dire financial position under the Allan Labor Government,” she said.

“Every school deserves a shaded space for assembly, classes and outdoor activities and Allan Labor Government must immediately reconsider its decision to deny funding for this important project.”

Originally published as State government's $850m upgrade fail leaves 92 schools waiting years for new facilities