$1m shadecloth forces first BER rip-off admission

26th March 2010

Author: Anthony Klan, Milanda Rout, ADDITIONAL REPORTING: IMRE SALUSINSZKY, MATTHEW FRANKLIN

Publisher: News Ltd

Publication: The Australian, Page 1 (Fri 26 Mar 2010)

Keywords: Martin (1),Dixon (1)

Edition: 1 - All-round Country

THE NSW government yesterday made the first official admission that the federal government's $16 billion school building program is failing to deliver value for money after Education Minister Verity Firth reversed a decision to build an overpriced $1 million shade structure instead of new classrooms.

After intense lobbying by the principal and parents at Hastings Public School on the NSW north coast for almost a year, Ms Firth scrapped the shade structure, which had blown out in costs from $400,000 to almost $1m, granting them extra classrooms for the growing school.

The decision came amid claims that school principals in Victoria are being threatened by the state education department to stay quiet about problems in the Building the Education Revolution or risk losing their money.

Ms Firth said an audit of costs of the proposed covered outdoor learning area -- or COLA, in educational parlance -- at Hastings school revealed the structure was not ``value for money''.

``I'm not convinced this school has received value for money, I really am not,'' Ms Firth told Sydney's 2GB radio host Ray Hadley. ``We're going to scrap the COLA project and build four classrooms.''

A similar COLA built in 2003 cost the school $78,000. The builder of that structure said costs had soared but a similar COLA would cost about $250,000 in the current market.

Ms Firth's decision follows increasing concern about inflated costs and a lack of transparency in the BER, with NSW the only state to publicly provide a breakdown of costs for its schools.

Ms Firth has set up an independent audit team in the NSW education department to conduct spot audits, with 101 other audits already undertaken. The department said yesterday the audit of Hastings school is still in draft form but would be released when it was finalised, and ``no major issues were identified'' in any other schools.

The Commonwealth Auditor-General, the Senate and the NSW upper house are all conducting inquiries into the costs of the BER. The NSW Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat said yesterday his office would extend its scrutiny of the education department's handling of the program, and increase the number of schools examined.

Mr Achterstraat said his auditors had increased the size of their sample of schools receiving BER funds, in recognition of concerns that have been publicly raised by school principals and parent

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groups about over-charging by managing contractors and poor allocation of resources.

``If the risk increases, you increase the sample size,'' he said.

The events in NSW come as the Victorian opposition alleged the state education department had threatened principals with losing their BER funding if they spoke publicly about problems with the program.

While Victorian principals have the most autonomy of any in the nation and usually are allowed to speak publicly on behalf of the school, Victorian opposition education spokesman Martin Dixon said he had an escalating number of calls -- including three in the past few days -- saying they had been told by state bureaucrats to keep their mouths shut.

``Principals and school council presidents say they have been told if their BER project is in the media, then their funding is at risk,'' he said. ``There are hundreds out there who are too scared to complain.''

Mr Dixon said principals have contacted him to complain that their BER projects were not getting the promised money, of costs blowing out, and of significant delays in the tender and building processes.

``There are increasing number of problems and frustrations, and an increased desire to speak out but there is an increasing pressure on schools to keep out of it,'' he said. ``Instead of listening to principals, the Victorian government have resorted to gags, bullying and intimidation to cover up the BER debacle and stop them from speaking out.''

Berwick Lodge Primary School principal, Henry Grossek, who successfully spoke out against the handling of his BER project, said that he heard of principals being asked to refrain from speaking publically on the federal program since it began last year.

``I heard that people were getting phone calls from regional staff in 2009 saying that they really should butt out of public comment,'' he said.

Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Mary Bluett said she had heard of examples where regions of the department were urging schools ``under duress'' to head down certain paths in order to get the full BER money they were entitled to.

``There have been some cases where schools have been told if you don't amalgamate, don't expect the BER money,'' she said. ``It goes to the issue of process and whether the decisions (to amalgamate) are made under duress.''

Both Ms Bluett and Mr Dixon have also been contacted by schools who were pressured by the department to take less than the ``original'' money they were promised from the Federal government. This included one example where a neighbouring principal received less because he was told another school in the area had a greater need for the money.

A spokesman for Victorian Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said any incidence of intimidation by the department will be looked into immediately.

The Australian yesterday asked federal Education Minister Julia Gillard whether all states should publicly release data about the school spending, as happens in NSW, to demonstrate value for money and whether she was prepared to tie the funding to greater openness.

In a statement released through a spokesman, Ms Gillard indicated she would not revisit contracts with the states but failed to offer a view on the desirability of greater openness.

``The government has entered into national partnerships with the states and other block grant authorities (managing funding for non-government schools) regarding the delivery of BER,'' the spokesman said.

``The partnerships outline what is expected of the school authorities when delivering this massive injection of funds into our schools. States and other authorities are free to operate within the boundaries of these agreements.''

West Australian Education Minister Liz Constable promised to launch a website with district-by-district school progress, but did not explain why the state did not provide the same transparency as NSW.

``Schools are encouraged to publish details of projects on their own websites and keep their communities informed via newsletters and meetings about timelines and project details,'' she said in a statement. ``The department and schools also contribute information to the Australian government's website. As a public service, the Department of Education will shortly launch its own website which will publish district-by-district information about the progress of schools.''

The Victorian government is not releasing the costs of its projects until all finalised, while the new South Australian Education Minister Jay Weatherill, who was sworn in yesterday, said he would get up to speed on the portfolio before making a decision on how transparent the Rann government would be on the matter.

The Queensland education department was unable to respond last night.

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