联邦政府经济刺激计划让维州小学获得14亿元

patrickzhu

根据联邦政府最新的经济刺激计划，维州(VIC)小学获得14亿元资金修缮新图书馆、礼堂和教室。

教育部长Julia Gillard昨天宣布，维州776所学校被列入联邦第二轮小学建设计划的行列。在联邦政府提供的所有资金中，62％将用于公立学校，23％用于天主教学校，还有15％用于私立学校。
　　
墨尔本的Chelsea Heights小学是受益学校之一，它得到250万元修建一个多功能中心。
校长Danny Mulqueen表示，主要设施是一个包括半个篮球场、一个食堂、表演空间、音乐、戏剧、科学和技术实验室。而在联邦政府第一轮的经济刺激金中，学校已获得20万元的维修费。
“我当了21年的校长，这还是学校第一次收到数目如此庞大的资金。我原本并不指望在为学校服务期间能看到多功能中心建成，这件事让我兴奋异常，我将拖延退休时间，希望看到中心的建成。”

Mulqueen表示，多功能中心将为青少年课余活动提供一个空间，它还可向社区开放，为夜间会议提供场所。
　　
虽然一些校长对这次意外的经济刺激金发放感到高兴，但也有人抱怨联邦政府沒有把钱发在刀刃上，忽略了学校最需要的设施。
对这项支出投出反对票的联盟党批评政府不容许把钱用于一些急需项目，如空调机和取暖器。
　　
对此工党政府表示，空调机只涉及到少量的劳动力，创造成的就业机会减少，不符合经济刺激计划的初衷。学校通过学生人数的多少获得资金分配，而不是按实际需要分配，私立学校和天主教学校也获得大量的资金。也的批评者认为联邦政府应该对资源不足的学校提供更多的支持。
　　
小学是21世纪教育改革计划的最大受益者，在联邦今年2月宣布的420亿元经济刺激计划中，占据了147亿元。
在第一轮资金发放过程中，361所维州学校获得6.42亿元资金。第三轮资金将在今年7月发放。根据联邦政府的13亿元国有学校项目，2273所维州中小学将获得3.01亿元学校基础设施和维修经费。

[ 本帖最后由 patrickzhu 于 2009-6-10 23:40 编辑 ]

patrickzhu

http://www.theage.com.au/nationa ... -20090608-c0un.html

Dan Harrison, Canberra

June 9, 2009

VICTORIAN primary schools will receive $1.4 billion for new libraries, halls and classrooms under the latest instalment of the Federal Government's stimulus spending.

Education Minister Julia Gillard will announce today that 776 Victorian schools will benefit under the second round of the Commonwealth's primary school building program.

Just over 62 per cent of the Victorian funding will go to government schools, 23 per cent to Catholic schools and 15 per cent to private schools.

Among schools to benefit is Chelsea Heights Primary School, which will receive $2.5 million for a multi-purpose centre. Principal Danny Mulqueen said the facility would include an indoor sports centre including a half basketball court, a canteen, performance and rehearsal space for music and drama, and science and technology rooms. The funding comes on top of $200,000 the school received this year for maintenance as part of the stimulus package.

"I've been a principal for 21 years and I've never known so much money to be coming into schools," he told The Age.

"I didn't believe that in my time at this school we'd ever get facilities of this nature. This is something that excites me, and it's the sort of thing that delays your retirement because you want to see it fulfilled."

Mr Mulqueen said the facilities would be available to the community outside school hours, and he expected that teenagers would use the basketball court and community groups would hold meetings there at night.

While some principals are delighted by the unexpected funding, others have complained state education bureaucrats have not allowed them to build the kinds of facilities they need most.

The Coalition, which voted against the spending, has criticised the Government for not allowing the funds to be spent on facilities associated with religious worship or on certain items, such as air-conditioning units.

The Government says air-conditioning units involve minimal labour, and create fewer jobs, the main purpose of the stimulus.

A school's funding allocation for the program is based on its enrolments rather than need, and is open to private and Catholic schools as well as government ones. Critics have suggested the Commonwealth should target resources to underresourced schools.

The Primary Schools for the 21st Century program is the largest component of the $14.7 billion Building the Education Revolution program, part of the Government's $42 billion stimulus package announced in February.

In the first round of the program, 361 Victorian schools shared $642 million.

Proposals for a third funding round are due in July.

Under the Government's $1.3 billion National School Pride Program, 2273 Victorian primary and secondary schools have received funding for $301 million worth of minor infrastructure and maintenance projects.