​Maintenance Blitz for Victorian Government Schools

Victorian state schools will undergo a $515 million 'maintenance blitz' so students and teachers will be learning and working in better classrooms and facilities at your school.

This increased investment will enable principals to get on with the job of leading Victoria's schools, by providing more funds to maintain the state's 36,000 school buildings, while supporting schools to cater to the 115,000 additional students who are expected to enter the education system in the five years leading up to 2023.

The package includes funding for 17 programs that cover maintenance, grounds and compliance activities. There is a combination of school-led programs and those implements by the Victorian School Building Authority. This includes:

• An initial $254 million 'maintenance blitz' rolled out by the end of 2020, which will enable schools to undertake essential works such as painting, resurfacing floors and replacing windows, as well as landscaping, tree inspections, and maintenance of essential infrastructure like septic systems and water services.
• $170.5 million in emergency and incident response over five years, including an additional $36 million for the 24-hour hotline for schools to report asbestos, and $76.4 million to respond to unforeseen incidents and events such as storms, fire or flooding.
• $44.2 million over five years for annual fire preparedness activities like vegetation removal for schools in some of the state's highest-risk bushfire areas.

The funding blitz complements other recent initiatives that support schools to manage and maintain their facilities, including the Rolling Facilities Evaluation and the rollout of School Maintenance Plans for each school between 2018 and 2022.

Programs have been designed to minimise the time burden on school leadership and some even have the option of choosing the Victorian School Building Authority to implement the work on their behalf.