Schools squeeze: Inner-city classrooms rushed out

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This was published 7 years ago

Schools squeeze: Inner-city classrooms rushed out

By Tony Moore
Updated

The Queensland government is hurriedly building 51 new classrooms in five inner-city suburbs where new apartments and units are having a dramatic impact on school enrolment numbers.

Education Minister Kate Jones made the comments after being questioned by Fairfax Media about spending $12 million on eight classrooms at West End State School, which will be filled in four years in a short-term fix, while a long-term plan is on the horizon.

Education Minister Kate Jones, pictured with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, says new classrooms are being built in inner-city suburbs where apartment living is having an impact, but concedes West End was "sold short" by successive governments.

Education Minister Kate Jones, pictured with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, says new classrooms are being built in inner-city suburbs where apartment living is having an impact, but concedes West End was "sold short" by successive governments.Credit: Drew Creighton

Both previous Labor (in 2010) and LNP governments (in 2013) – allowed for land zoned for future education in West End and South Brisbane to be sold to developers.

Those developers are now building thousands of new apartments to house families who are now sending their children back to the same suburbs' land-locked schools.

Temporary classrooms at West End State School

Temporary classrooms at West End State SchoolCredit: Tony Moore

Labor's former infrastructure minister Stirling Hinchliffe in 2010 said West End's Montague Road site was not suitable for a school, Education Queensland put the land up for sale while the LNP in 2013 sold the former School of Distance Education to Pradella for $12.6m and a second block (Southbank Institute of TAFE) to David Devine's Metro Developments for $20 million.

That prompted community figures to question the short-term planning of both major parties.

Ms Jones this week conceded West End State School and Brisbane State High School had been "sold short", but blamed the policies of former lord mayor Campbell Newman.

"So it has really been unfair on that community. It got sold short," Ms Jones said.

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Temporary classrooms crowded onto West End State School - one of five inner-city suburbs feeling the apartment pinch.

Temporary classrooms crowded onto West End State School - one of five inner-city suburbs feeling the apartment pinch.Credit: Tony Moore

Ms Jones said new classrooms - triggered by families living in new apartments - were now being built in New Farm, Toowong, Bulimba, Kelvin Grove and West End at a cost of $41 million.

"That is at West End State School, Kelvin Grove State College, New Farm State School, Ironside State School and Bulimba State School," Ms Jones said.

"So just in those five schools, we have 51 additional classrooms to give you an idea."

More than 62 per cent of West End State School's students now live in nearby apartments.

However Ms Jones rejected suggestions Education Queensland had ignored population shifts where more and more families with children live in inner-city apartments.

"I have had this explicit conversation with the Education Department a number of times," Ms Jones said.

"We are seeing a greater number of families moving into apartments," she said.

"I understand that people think we have not got that right in the past, I am confident that going forward we have much greater picture of that."

Ms Jones said more students had also been shifting back to state schools over the past 10 years.

"We are growing at a faster rate than we have done in the past 10 years," she said.

Ms Jones said new schools were also being built in growth corridors outside Brisbane, at Caloundra South, Ripley Valley, Townsville South and at Yarrabilba.

She also raised a debate about $108 million in capital payments "required upfront" under the LNP's $550 million Queensland Schools public-private partnership to build 10 new schools, signed in 2013.

Ms Jones said former treasurer and now LNP leader Tim Nicholls had acted against Education Queensland advice to not make the capital payments upfront. The department advised instead that payments be spread over the 30-year term of the public-private partnership.

"In the letter from Tim Nicholls that I have seen, he actually knocked back what the Education Department was advising," she said.

"They were advising that you should not be doing an upfront capital payments' PPP."

However the LNP's Shadow Education Minister Tracy Davis said the financial arrangements for the Queensland school's public-private partnership were approved by Dave Stewart, now director-general to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

"Mr Stewart advised this project delivery method represented the best value for Queensland taxpayers' money," Ms Davis said.

"Without the PPP program, the state government would have had to fund the full cost of new schools straight away regardless, and the cost of long-term leasebacks would have been prohibitive for taxpayers in the longer term.," she said.

"If Kate Jones is so worried about not having enough money to fund new schools then why did she shift over $191 million from the Education Budget back into consolidated revenue to pay for 'whole of government' priorities".

That figure can be read on page 5 of Budget Measures 2016-17 in the 'Whole of Government Measures" to save $450 million over four years.

It shows the education portfolio progressively returning to consolidated revenue $31.5 million in 2016-17 building to $191 million in 2019-20.

"If building new classrooms for our kids isn't considered a 'whole of government priority' then Kate Jones and Annastacia Palaszczuk are putting themselves first and Queensland kids last," Ms Davis said.

Disclosure: The reporter lives in West End.

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