Teachers: Funds needed for rundown schools

TEACHERS met Australian Education Union officials last week to discuss concerns about the state of public education.
Up to 30 teachers from eight schools from schools in Cardinia and Casey met AEU branch president Mary Bluett in Beaconsfield.
Ms Bluett said in the twohour session teachers exchanged views and heard more about the AEU’s preelection public education campaign. The campaign seeks to reduce class sizes and teachers’ workloads, build infrastructure and provide students with greater pastoral care and welfare support.
Education shapes as a big issue at the state election in November.
Ms Bluett said the AEU was seeking a major commitment from the Government to upgrade infrastructure across the state.
“We require a public education system that not only provides an education for everyone but an education for everyone’s needs,” she said.
“For far too long our school infrastructure has been dilapidated and rundown and schools are relying on parents more than ever to assist with raising funds to provide the basics.”
Several schools in the PakenhamBerwick area were undergoing major rebuilding, but other schools were still waiting, Ms Bluett said.
A spokesman for Education Minister Lynne Kosky said the Bracks Government had invested strongly in schools in the Cardinia Shire since 1999, to a total value of more than $24 million.