Page 498 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 18 February 2015

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“(1) notes:

(a) that the 2014-15 ACT Budget invests $1.06 billion in the ACT education system to improve our schools and training, support our educators and increase access to technology for our students;

(b) that the Education and Training Directorate has an annual allocation of $20.6 million for both planned and unforeseen repairs and maintenance works at ACT public schools and $14 million for capital upgrades;

(c) that the Education and Training Directorate constantly monitors future population growth, individual school capacity, and school environments to guide planning for now and into the future, and is investing $3.5 million over four years to make all our schools energy efficient; and

(d) that the ACT branch of the Australian Education Union has a policy on extreme temperatures that is broadly in line with the Education and Training Directorate’s Guidelines on Managing High Temperatures in ACT Public Schools; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) provide an update to the Assembly on improvements in energy efficiency and heating and cooling needs in ACT public schools by the last sitting day in June;

(b) continue its work in providing safe and healthy school environments;

(d) continue to deliver new, state-of-the-art schools such as the $47 million new Coombs primary school, which is scheduled to open in the 2016 school year to accommodate growth in the Molonglo Valley, and will have a green star rating.”.

This government has a proud history of investing in our schools across the territory. In the 2014-15 budget we continued this proud tradition, providing record expenditure of $1.067 billion, up 3.9 per cent from the previous budget, to ensure we maintain our national leadership role in education and improve the outcomes for all young Canberrans.

Through this investment we have stepped in to fill the gap created by the commonwealth’s withdrawal of school funds, signalling our continued commitment to a standard of excellence across our education sector. This government will continue to deliver on our commitments, targeting investment to provide the best possible education for every child regardless of their abilities, their backgrounds or the challenges they face.

We know the quality of learning environments has a big impact on how and how well students learn and, accordingly, we have provided focused funding for infrastructure and information and communication technology improvements. Over

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