The Labor's Party has announced that it is committed to safely removing all asbestos from public schools by 2020.
They have made an additional commitment to provide an extra $100 million to escalate the identification and removal of asbestos in the short term will mean that some of the worst affected buildings, classrooms and portables will be made safer sooner. In a previous post I quoted a State Government audit that found over 300 Victorian schools were plagued with asbestos.
The AEU said today:"It is unacceptable that the Napthine Government has kept this information hidden during an election year, especially given the threat asbestos poses to health and safety. Asbestos is a dangerous material and its safe removal should be a number one priority in ensuring our children, families and school communities are safe."
She says that Labor's announcement demonstrates that they are listening to parents, teachers, principals and support staff and committing to tackling the problem.
"State governments must take responsibility for the safety of our community, and not expect school principals and staff to bear the weight of this responsibility alone," says Peace.
"Every Victorian child deserves access to education in up-to-date and safe buildings. Most important is the assurance that students and teachers' health and safety is at the forefront of the government's mind."
Parents have joined the fight against the Tasmanian Government's budget cuts to education. the government ultimatum is accept a pay freeze or we will cut services.Moonah Primary School council chair Lyndy Bowden said teachers and parents would not take the cuts sitting down."We're going to fight this the whole way. It will be a little bit inconvenient, but that has to come back to the Government. It's not the teachers, it's not the union," she said. It goes without saying I wish my Tassie colleagues all the best in their struggle!
The AEU says that:"None of this is new money and in fact I think it is pretty disingenuous to suggest they are revealing $4.2 billion in Gonski money for the first time,"
"What our schools actually want to know is how much additional money is being provided to individual schools from both sides of government. The government has consistently failed to be transparent about this and what our schools tell us is there is no or very little additional money in their budgets."
Opposition education spokesman James Merlino has promised that a Labor government would reveal exactly how much extra federal and state money each school in Victoria received under the needs-based Gonski funding model.
But Premier Napthine indicated there would be no breakdown of how much Gonski money flows to each Victorian school under a Coalition government.( More slight of hand)
Dr Napthine was joined on the hustings by his son Tom, a recent teaching graduate who held a press conference after his dad.
He also made small talk with students in the year 10 maths class, telling them that "if you're a Magpie supporter you've got a greater probability of committing a crime". ( Bizarre! obviously the apple doesn't fall far from the tree)
The Napthine government paid elite private school Scotch College $5.4 million for a thin strip of land, taken for a road-widening project, that was previously valued at just over $1 million by the state's Valuer-General.
The payment was made by VicRoads in October last year.
The government's road authority in 2008 used its compulsory acquisition powers to take a 2.8-metre-wide and 400-metre-long sliver of land from the Hawthorn boys' school.
The land was taken in order to add a lane to CityLink, which runs alongside the school.
The strip of land taken for the road widening adjoins three of Scotch's sporting ovals.
In 2008 the Brumby government offered the school $1.06 million for the land, after a valuation by then valuer-general Jack Dunham.
It also offered Scotch $86,400 a year as a fee for occupation of other school land it needed during construction.
The school refused the offer, and took the government to the Supreme Court.
Nothing was heard of the case's resolution, until the school this year lodged its 2013 financial return.
It shows, among the school's revenue for the year of $70.9 million, a payment for $5.4 million as "reimbursement following a Supreme Court action".
The payment helped Scotch record a net surplus of $11.5 million.
Scotch old boy and state Liberal Party elder David Kemp headed a taskforce to ensure the school got what it considered fair compensation for the land.
Dr Kemp, the party's state president between 2007 and 2011, said on Sunday there had been "normal legal negotiations" between the school and the government over the land's worth.
And he said the negotiations were entirely undertaken by lawyers. "I had no personal role," said Dr Kemp, who is a Scotch College director.
A spokesman for Roads Minister Terry Mulder confirmed Dr Kemp had not been personally involved in the negotiations.
A spokeswoman for Scotch said the value of the land acquired for the freeway expansion "was the subject of negotiation during the Supreme Court action".
She said the final amount received from the government included payment for disruptions to school operations, ground repairs, reimbursement of other costs, and rent for the use of property by construction companies during the project, which was finished in 2010.
The Australian Education Union, though, said "It is a sad indication of the Napthine government's priorities that they are willing to make a secret $5 million payout to one of Victoria's wealthiest schools for a thin sliver of land, but not willing to be open with other schools about ... extra funding under the Gonski reforms," the union's Victorian president, Meredith Peace, said.
Let's not forget-
Victoria is the lowest spending state on public education per student.
40% of Principals surveyed said that they relied on fund-raising to pay staff.
In 2011 the Coalition Government cut $481 million from public school funding. by 2013 the cuts were more like $600 million.
between 2013-14 $209 million was cut from VET and $300 million has been cut per year over four years to TAFE
Preschool teachers are paid 9% less than there primary school colleagues.
In 2013-14 funding for early-childhood education was cut by $21.3 million
There has been a 21% cut in regional and central office staff.
