A re-elected Andrews Labor Government will deliver new and upgraded schools and help more families avoid the dreaded double drop-off by building more kinders on-site, with a school and kinder package worth nearly $1.6 billion for our Education State.
An official press release from Premier Daniel Andrews’ office said the government has invested more than $12.8 billion to improve classrooms, upgrade facilities and build new schools.
“When Matthew Guy’s Liberals were last in government, they cut more than $1 billion from our education system—including slashing the Education Maintenance Allowance, cutting funding for speech pathologists, psychologists and social workers in schools and failing to invest in the new schools our growing state needed.
“And when Jeff Kennett was in charge, the Liberals closed more than 350 schools—that’s almost a school a day for a year. We’ve worked hard to turn that around, making Victoria the Education State,” the release said.
Andrews said his government has delivered more than 1,850 school upgrades and supported more than 17,400 jobs in construction.
Listen 🔈 Labor pledges new kinders, schools & upgrades for Vic kids in Hindi
A re-elected Labor Government, the release said will keep delivering school upgrades by investing up to $850 million to fund works at least 89 primary and secondary schools.
More than 25 per cent of the total spend will be in regional Victoria—making sure families have access to a great local school, no matter where they live.
“We’ll keep delivering better classrooms—but we need to build new ones, too. Over the next 20 years, we need to accommodate nearly 100,000 more students—particularly in new growing suburbs.
“In Melbourne’s western suburbs alone, there are four classrooms’ worth of children being born every week.
“We promised to build 100 new schools by 2026—today, we’re announcing $25 million in planning funding to deliver the remaining 25 schools to reach our target.”
This investment will get work started on:
- Six new primary schools and two secondary schools for the south-eastern suburbs
- Three new primary schools, one prep to year nine school, a secondary school and a specialist school for the west
- Five primary schools, a secondary school and a specialist school for the north
- A new primary school at Fishermans Bend in the CBD
- Two new primary schools near Geelong
- A new primary school at Leneva, near Wodonga
“We’re rolling out Free Kinder for every three and four-year-old child in our state—saving families up to $2,500 a year on fees, per child. Free Kinder will ease pressure on family budgets and make it easier for more parents—particularly mums—to return to the workforce”
These new schools respond to the demographic needs of local communities, catering to population growth in primary or secondary age groups.
Under Labor, the party said early childhood education is set for an enormous transformation.
“We’re rolling out Free Kinder for every three and four-year-old child in our state—saving families up to $2,500 a year on fees, per child. Free Kinder will ease pressure on family budgets and make it easier for more parents—particularly mums—to return to the workforce.
“Over the course of a decade, we’re transitioning four-year-old kinder from 15 hours a week to a new universal 30 hours per week program of Pre-Prep.”
The government is starting up 50 new government-owned childcare centres in the areas where they’re needed most, ensuring families can access the childcare they need. And because the centres are government-run, they’ll be low fee – saving families money.
As part of our $9 billion Best Start Best Life package, a re-elected Andrews Labor Government will deliver $705 million to build and expand around 180 government-owned kinders. Wherever possible, new kinders will be built alongside schools—so that families can avoid the dreaded double drop-off.
The Andrews Labor Government is also investing an extra $19 million in programs to attract and retain teachers, helping government schools address workforce pressures and demand with targeted support.
This will include a streamlined graduate program to centrally attract an extra 400 graduate teachers to work in schools with hard-to-staff positions, a program to attract an extra 400 experienced teachers back into the workforce and a migration support service to help principals recruit international teachers for their schools.
An extra 250 graduates will be supported with a one-year program of induction and mentoring support in 2023 as part of the nation-leading $73.4 million Career Start Pilot. This builds on the support that is currently being provided to the 700 graduates participating in the Pilot.
This funding comes on top of the $779 million invested in the Victorian Budget 2022/23 to recruit 1,900 extra teachers.
(Press release)
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A re-elected Andrews Labor Gov will deliver new & upgraded #schools & help more families avoid the dreaded double drop-off by building more #kinders on-site, with a school & #kinder package worth nearly $1.6 billion for our #Education State. #TheIndianSunhttps://t.co/gFKS7iaJKR
— The Indian Sun (@The_Indian_Sun) October 26, 2022
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