The State Government has committed almost $99 million to building new schools and improving facilities at existing ones.

The projects include 12 new or replacement schools and major refurbishments at a further 67 schools across the State.

New schools will be built in the high population growth areas of Caroline Springs and Sydenham in Melbourne’s west. Also, Williamstown North Primary and Bass Valley Primary (Gippsland) will be replaced with entirely new schools.

A new campus of the highly successful Koori Open Door Education (KODE) program is planned for a site that has yet to be determined.

A further seven schools will be relocated or consolidated onto new sites with new buildings and facilities.

The 1999-2000 capital-works program encompasses 79 major projects, 33 of which are in country Victoria and 45 in metropolitan Melbourne.

The new capital projects include:

• $3.13 million for a new primary school at Caroline Springs in the Shire of Melton.
• $3.46 million for a new school to replace the existing Williamstown North Primary School.
• $3.7 million to replace the existing Rye Primary School as it relocates to a new site.
• $1.56 million to replace the existing Bass Valley Primary School in Gippsland.
• $1.9 million to construct new facilities at the Newhaven Primary School in Gippsland.
• $2.25 million to completely redevelop the Merrilands P-12 college in Reservoir.
• $1.1 million for a major upgrade at St Albans Primary School.
• $2.7 million earmarked to assist schools in planning for major building and refurbishment works over the next few years.

The $99 million in projects are in addition to the $78 million committed to new capital works in the 1998/99 State Budget.

(News Release, Office of the Minister for Education, May 4, 1999)