All We Are Saying, Is Give Ppps A Chance

The Age

Saturday December 8, 2007

Despite criticism over secrecy, the use of public-private partnerships for schools is worthwhile.

'IT'S about ensuring that we can roll out the best possible schools in the shortest possible time." So said the Premier, John Brumby, in announcing on Thursday that 10 schools would be built around Melbourne using public-private partnerships.

The education system needs more schools, and quickly. The schools, to be built in the city's growth corridors, include sites at Point Cook, Taylors Hill, Derrimut, Kororoit Creek, Truganina, Lyndhurst and Cranbourne.

Private consortiums will design, build, operate and maintain the schools on public land for 25 years. The consortiums, quite rightly, will not have an input in the teaching or curriculum. Taxpayers will inject $200 million, with the rest being provided from the private sector. The Australian Education Union has welcomed the move, saying that the PPPs will "benefit families living in growth corridors and will ensure that students are educated in modern facilities". For the latter reason alone the move is worth praise.

A year ago Professor Brian Caldwell, former dean of education at the University of Melbourne, said that hundreds of public schools should be knocked down. "You can visit schools in the state, and whether you are looking at toilet facilities or classrooms, they are appalling," he said. A figure of $4 billion was put on fixing the problem. In its budget last year the State Government (when Mr Brumby was treasurer) outlined a rebuilding program of $555 million to upgrade 131 schools.

This week's announcement is the result of a request by Mr Brumby in September to the Treasury and to Education Minister Bronwyn Pike to report on PPPs for schools. At the time the Premier also raised the possibility that the new school sites could include kindergartens, community centres and sports facilities. In effect, a hub for social interaction.

Critics of PPPs point to the long-term negatives of taxpayers having to pay the private sector for a service that should be the principal responsibility of government. Yet the demand in this state is so urgent and the shortage so chronic that engaging in PPPs seems an eminently sensible method of solving the problem.

Mr Brumby has made no secret of his embracing of public-private partnerships. In his time as treasurer and now as Premier, the state has embarked on more than a dozen major PPPs, including Southern Cross Station, EastLink Freeway, Melbourne Convention Centre, the County Court and Melbourne Showgrounds. The week before his request to Treasury and Ms Pike, he unveiled one of Victoria's largest PPPs: the construction of the controversial $3.1 billion desalination plant at Wonthaggi. In his defence of PPPs, Mr Brumby has cited the example of Scotland. "The injection of new investment, new leadership and and new vision in Scotland has transformed areas that for decades have underperformed."

Thirty of Scotland's 32 local authorities are looking at using PPPs to renovate or rebuild more than 300 schools by 2009. Yet the use of PPPs has come under fire. Malcolm Fraser, the former vice-chairman of Architecture and Design Scotland, said that schools built through PPPs had, in effect, been a disaster. "The best of them are not good enough, the worst fill me with despair for the generations of young lives that will be blighted by their dark classrooms, poor facilities and playgrounds," he said.

His comments followed revelations that Scots will have to pay #22 billion ($A51 billion) over the next 40 years to fund all the country's PPPs. Certainly there is a question mark over costs blow-outs, but there is no time like the present to build schools.

Clearly each country has its own particular needs with which to contend in relation to public-private partnerships. However, the benefits in providing more Victorian schools quickly where they are needed cannot be easily dismissed. It comes down to this: what value do you place on your child's education?

© 2007 The Age

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