Minister Barr again dodged the question of incorrect capacity figures at the North Canberra consultative meeting (Canberra Times, July 4) by repeating his mantra that the Principal can request an audit of capacity at any time. Isn’t it a bit late for that?
Minister Barr has admitted that in some cases the capacity figures are wrong. He has admitted that the cost per student includes those with special needs. He has admitted that the cost per student is inflated by fixed building costs that will not be saved if the school is closed. The total number of students in the projected figures do not agree between the status quo and under their proposals. The data used for making the decisions in the Towards2020 document have been shown to be flawed, so the proposals cannot be regarded as sound. There has been no external review of their proposals to examine their educational or financial merit.
Now we find out from the Education Department that in some cases demountables may have to be used if some schools have a large influx of displaced students. Now there is some irony!
It is time for the Government to scrap Towards2020 and start again from scratch. Let us hope they are brave enough to take this step.
Update: Published in the Canberra Times, July 5th.
