Education Minister Yvette Berry said there was never a promise made for a new gymnasium at Lyneham High School. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
Education Minister Yvette Berry has warned infrastructure resources will need to be taken away from other public schools in order to fulfill the demands of the Legislative Assembly for Majura Primary School and Lyneham High School.
The ACT Government had originally promised $39.3 million in 2022 to expand Majura Primary School and later topped up the promise to reach $50 million in the 2024/25 budget. In the most recent budget this was wound back to $20 million for a “modernisation” rather than an expansion.
A committee inquiry is going to probe an apparent 2020 ACT Labor promise to deliver Lyneham High School a new gym which was funded to be a refurbishment (in the 2024-25 budget).
Shadow Education Minister Jeremy Hanson moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling on the ACT Government to deliver the $50-million expansion for Majura and a new gymnasium for Lyneham.
He said both promises had been “ripped up” after they had been taken to elections.
Mr Hanson said the justification for a modernisation at Majura Primary School, rather than the promised expansion, was fewer enrolments and that Ms Berry knew about this before the October 2024 election.
“So the minister knew … going into the election that these statistics had been changed but she didn’t change the announcement, she continued to hoodwink the community about what they were going to get,” he said.
On the Lyneham High School’s new gymnasium, which Ms Berry said had never been promised, Mr Hanson said documents released under Freedom of Information laws showed a scoping report found the existing gym was “not sufficient for sports” and was to be repurposed for drama and visual arts classes.
He said there were also emails which showed many in the community believed a new gym was going to be delivered.
“Obviously … there’s a real amount of confusion, misinformation on what’s going on,” Mr Hanson said.
“It’s inconsistent for the government to say ‘you should have known’ … but you won’t tell us what your plans are.”
Mr Hanson’s motion also called on the government to respond to how it was implementing recommendations from two inquiries into school infrastructure and present a Forward Capital Works Program for all ACT public school infrastructure and maintenance for the rest of the Assembly term.
Ms Berry said the government was committed to “inclusive, equitable and high quality” public schooling and the right decisions had been made on the Majura and Lyneham projects.
She said some in the Majura community had expressed concerns about the expansion project, and she had told them it would be paused before the 2024 election.
“It would be irresponsible for the government … not to respond to a projected change in enrolments … and proceed with an unwanted or unneeded expansion,” Ms Berry said.
As for Lyneham, she said while a new gymnasium had been discussed, it had never been promised.
“The decision that was made in the 2024/25 Budget was to invest $5.1 million into refurbishing the gymnasium,” Ms Berry said.
“I don’t know why the Lyneham school community felt they were promised a new gymnasium.
“I hold my hand to my heart … there was no promise made to Lyneham, [but] I understand they thought otherwise.”
She warned calling on the ACT Government to deliver what the Legislative Assembly wanted would force resources away from other schools which might have their own pressing infrastructure issues.
“That would be unfortunate, and require me and the Education Directorate to make decisions that are not responsible, and don’t meet the needs [that are] equitable [in terms of all] public schools,” Ms Berry said.
“The decisions [we make] are more to ensure that every school gets what they need. It won’t be all at the same time … it is done based on informed data [and consultation].”
ACT Parents (formerly the ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations) highlighted transparency as a key issue when it came to school infrastructure funding.
Executive officer Veronica Elliott commended school P&Cs that advocated for their communities, but said infrastructure and maintenance funding needed to be allocated according to need, not because of politics.
“ACT Parents has consistently called for school infrastructure projects to be selected in a transparent and accountable way that delivers equity across the system,” she said.
“Too many of our schools are dealing with outdated and ageing facilities – from unsafe and unusable bathrooms through to leaking roofs. These conditions directly impact the educational experience of students, while also increasing maintenance costs to school budgets, and cannot be ignored.
“We cannot allow politics to decide which schools receive funding. Every student deserves a safe, modern learning environment and right now there is inequity across the system that must be addressed.”
