Campbelltown MP Greg Warren has launched a petition calling on the new NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes to immediately fix the school maintenance backlog as local children are forced to return to dilapidated classrooms.
“It really is a sad state of affairs that our community has to petition this government to provide adequate education facilities for our kids,’’ Mr Warren said.
“We’ve got a new Education Minister to kick off a new school year, and he can start his new job right away by listening to the concerns of people in our community and committing to fixing our local schools.’’
Documents obtained by the Labor Opposition in 2016 revealed the maintenance backlog at government schools in the Macarthur region to be in excess of $30 million, with a backlog of more than $10 million in Campbelltown alone.
In the electorate of Campbelltown there are 23 schools with outstanding maintenance requests, including:
Two schools with an individual maintenance backlog in excess of $1 million (Claymore Public School and Blairmount Public School)
Nine (9) schools have a backlog in excess of $500,000;
Just one school has a backlog bill of less than $10,000;
Everything from toilet block upgrades, carpet replacements, fixing damaged roofs, to replacing windows has been put on hold.
Mr Warren’s petition has already received strong support from parents, P&C associations and residents across Campbelltown, and he is continuing to collect signatures in support of his call for the Government to clear the backlog.
“Claymore is probably the most socioeconomically disadvantaged suburb in our area, and both of the local primary schools have maintenance backlogs of over $1 million,’’ Mr Warren said.
“How are these kids supposed to get ahead through a good public education when their schools are being left so far behind by the Liberal Government.’’
