Victorian state schools are knocking back hundreds of frustrated families as controversial changes to enrolment rules start to bite.
From this year, schools are not entitled to extra portable classrooms if 50 per cent or more of their students do not live locally.
While the move is aimed at restricting the growth of larger schools, and encouraging families to attend their closest school, critics have accused the state government of winding back school choice.
Thomas Mitchell Primary School principal John Hurley said he’d been forced to turn away about 30 students this year due to the new rules.
“They have been pretty upset,” he said. “They don't understand why we have to do this. They say, ‘my neighbour goes to your school. How come they can go and we can’t?’”
Mr Hurley fears his Endeavour Hills school, which currently has 780 enrolments, will shrink dramatically if he continues turning away so many students.
“I have been a principal for a long time and parents have always had a choice as to which school suits their child best,” Mr Hurley said.
“That has always been strongly supported by the government. All of a sudden that is gone and we are told you can’t take kids from outside.”
While rejecting out-of-area families has been a long-running practice at zoned schools, the changes mean many non-zoned schools are now refusing enrolments on similar grounds.
About 230 schools were contacted by the Education Department in May and told they’d be impacted by the changes because at least half their enrolments were non-local.
It followed a 2017 auditor-general's report which revealed more than half of Victorian parents now avoid their neighbourhood school.
Berwick mother Andrea Albarenque is one of many parents frustrated by the changes.
She unsuccessfully tried to move her two children - Ethan,10, and Emma, 8 - from a Catholic school to Berwick Lodge Primary School.
After contacting the school, which is just a five-minute drive from her home, she was told her children couldn't attend due to the new rules.
While rejecting out-of-area families has been a long-running practice at zoned schools, the changes mean many non-zoned schools are now refusing enrolments on similar grounds.
About 230 schools were contacted by the Education Department in May and told they’d be impacted by the changes because at least half their enrolments were non-local.
It followed a 2017 auditor-general's report which revealed more than half of Victorian parents now avoid their neighbourhood school.
Berwick mother Andrea Albarenque is one of many parents frustrated by the changes.
She unsuccessfully tried to move her two children - Ethan,10, and Emma, 8 - from a Catholic school to Berwick Lodge Primary School.
After contacting the school, which is just a five-minute drive from her home, she was told her children couldn't attend due to the new rules.
“It’s heart-wrenching," she said. "At the end of the day parents will choose schools that are the best-suited to their child.”
She was attracted to the school because it didn’t have open-plan classrooms, which are too distracting for her son Ethan, who is on the autism spectrum. She was also impressed by the music and arts programs.
Her children are now attending another nearby state school and looking forward to the start of the school year.
“We didn't realise how difficult it would be to go to the local state school,” she said. “We are happy we now have a school but would have preferred it to be in the suburb we live in.”
Berwick Lodge Primary School principal Henry Grossek said he now had to be extremely careful about who he enrolled.
“We are at great risk of not getting another portable because well over 50 per cent of our children come from outside our neighbourhood boundary,” he said.
The school has knocked back 10 families so far.
“The parents have all been very upset and confused,” Mr Grossek said. “I had a woman in tears begging me to change the policy.”
Coburg High School principal Stewart Milner said the changes ensured a more even spread of students across schools.
“It is important that students go to their local school,” he said. “At the same time, parents deserve to have choice.”
He said he’d had to knock back 40 students this year to avoid a future situation where more than 50 per cent of enrolments were non-local.
Around 35 per cent of Coburg High School students currently live outside the school’s enrolment boundary.
He said Coburg High had become the school of choice for local families, with 220 year 7 students starting at the school next week.
Education Minister James Merlino said schools could accommodate non-local students if they had space for them.
“This is about common sense," he said. "It’s not fair on anybody if schools are taking kids outside of their area and then accommodating them by taking away vital outside play space.”
The opposition's education spokeswoman Cindy McLeish said parents should be given as much choice as possible when it came to their children’s education.
“Schools should also be allowed some flexibility,” she said.
( This is designed to support local schools, particularly small rural schools on the fringe of regional centres. As the principal of a one- teacher rural school I fully support this regulation. It also helps stop parents from shopping around as some do, looking for fads ( One school near me set itself up as a 'specialist autism' school without the qualified personnel to do so. Lasted a couple of years then the Principal moved on.) I can think of lots of other schools profiting from fads such as robotics, specialist sport, leadership programs Etc. Many of these are meaningless, lack rigour, depend on staff expertise that might be 'gone tomorrow'. Parents need to invest their time, energy and sometimes money in their local schools. Get involved, get on school council and make a difference there.
Check out The Age's new Education section in Monday's paper.
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