Presented by Robert Clark MP		www.robertclark.net

Bracks Government hits Box Hill High School with $10,000 WorkCover charge

News Release - 26th November 2003

The Bracks Government plans to take $10,000 from Box Hill High School's budget next year to help cover a blowout in Education Department WorkCover costs.

The $10,000 is money that would otherwise be spent on students. It is equivalent to the cost of a part time specialist teacher, and will force the school community either to undertake extra fund-raising efforts to help pay the Department's WorkCover blowouts, or else cut back on teaching programs or facilities.

The charge on Box Hill High School is part of a policy the Government has imposed on schools with little notice or explanation, to start from the beginning of next school year.

Schools will be charged a multiple of between 2 ½ times and 3 times the total cost of any WorkCover claims the school has incurred over the past three years. If this exceeds to amount credited to the school budget for WorkCover costs, the school will have to pay the difference, subject to a $10,000 cap.

In the case of Box Hill High School, the school has had three WorkCover claims in the past three years, of $1,291, $452 and $12,711. As a result, the school is being charged WorkCover costs of $35,720.55, but with the net cost to the school capped at $10,000.

I have raised in Parliament the effect on Box Hill High School of the Government's arbitrary and ill-considered policy.

The policy is supposed to encourage schools to minimize WorkCover claims. However, school administrations have little control over many of the factors giving rise to claims, which are imposed on them by government policy, or over the size of claims, which are still administered by the Education Department.

The formula used by the department to allocate premiums to schools is not the same as used by WorkCover to set premiums for other employers, and will produce huge fluctuations in schools' WorkCover costs from year to year.

As well, many claims will arise due to occupational health and safety hazards at schools caused by lack of maintenance, after the government has failed yet again to provide any funds this year to tackle maintenance backlogs.

I have been pressing the Government for some time about maintenance needs for Box Hill High School, including occupational health and safety needs, but the Minister has simply passed the buck to the Eastern Region, who don't have the funds to do anything to help.

The Government has falsely claimed that this change in the 2004 school global budgets has been developed in consultation with the Schools Global Budget Consultative Committee.

The truth is that the WorkCover change was presented to the Committee and was soundly rejected by the vast majority of stakeholders around the table. They were informed that the proposal would go ahead anyway - so much for consultation.