By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
NEXT year, 14 schools in Dandenong will receive a share in more than $4.8 million in State Government funding a part of its plan to make Victoria the Education State.
Distributed between primary and secondary schools, the money will be spent on upgrading schools and assisting disadvantaged families.
Dandenong MP Gabrielle Williams said the extra investment is exactly what schools in Dandenong need.
“It means more confidence for every parent and the best chance for every child,” Ms Williams said.
Kevin Mackay, principal of 30 years at Dandenong North Primary School, said the money is the single biggest injection he has received and a welcomed relief as the five year National Partnership payments from the Federal Government end this December.
“Over the last three years we will have got around $600,000 through national partnerships payments so the $600,745 from the State Government is new money but not a new amount,” Mr Mackay said.
Not aware of the exact spending guidelines around the funds which were announced on Monday 14 September, Mr Mackay said he hoped to employ an outside consultancy to build teacher capacity and professional development for his staff.
“Targeted programs and intervention is the best way to break the cycle of disadvantage but our biggest problem in terms of spending the new money is space.
“It’s a matter of acoustics and you need spaces for intervention programs and we don’t have any spare room at the moment.
The school has been without stage two of its construction development plan under the federally funded Building the Education Revolution (BER) program introduced in 2009 after the money run out.
“We got pretty much two thirds of a new school from the BER program but what we don’t have is a hall and a canteen,” Mr Mackay said.
The new money will be spent on assisting families with school costs such as uniforms, camps and excursions and the State Government has also added eyeglasses to the mix, a problem Mr Mackay said many schools might not be aware of.
OPSM staff visited the primary school in 2013 and were shocked to find that many of the children needed glasses.
“The number of children that needed glasses and didn’t have them was just huge, it was abnormal and OPSM supplied them with glasses free of charge through OPSM’s partnership with State Schools Relief.
“That program showed the need for glasses to be included and we were the catalyst for that,” Mr Mackay said.
Schools in Keysborough will also share in more than $3.4 million with Keysborough Secondary College receiving the biggest boost in the area at $1,013,445.
State Education Minister James Merlino said thousands of people have told the government over the past few months that Victorian schools are “good”.
“They aren’t broken, but we can absolutely make them better,” Mr Merlino said.
