‘We’re not looking for the Taj Mahal’: Margaret River Senior High School’s seven-year battle for funding

More than 1200 students, and a reliance on transportable classrooms are the reality for Margaret River Senior High School, an education facility struggling with classroom resources and funding. With the State election inching closer and campaigning parties revealing their commitments, education plays a role in the minds of voters. So far, WA Labor has pledged $12 million towards Cowaramup Primary School, as well as smaller amounts for the Picton and Bunbury primary schools. Meanwhile, the State Liberals have promised every student wearing a school uniform during the week will access free public transport without the need to tag on and off with their SmartRiders. The Nationals WA have pledged a $45m injection to expand the MRSHS to help it maintain resources for an increased volume of students. They have also promised to “protect” school bus services, including expanding the eligibility radius from 2.5km to 4.5km, and keeping bus operator contracts even in the event of decreased student numbers. However, residents say students at MRSHS are disadvantaged by being based in the regions. With the school expected to reach enrolment numbers of more than 2000 by 2030, the facilities are reaching their expiry date. In 2017, the school was approved for $30 million for upgrades by the coalition government, but redevelopments did not begin until 2018. The school has since already outgrown the development plans, with no additional funding in sight for suitable expansions. School board president Barbara Maidment said the funding was allocated when the school only had a student population of 650. Seven years later, and still on the board, Ms Maidment continues fighting for the students. “It’s discouraging,” she said. “A lot of time and effort was put into planning, environment, student and education considerations. “I just want the Government to finish what they started.” Ms Maidment said the funding was broken into two stages in 2018 — $30m for STEM subject facilities, and the rest for arts and humanities. The second stage of developments has not yet occurred, with the exception of $6m from the Labor Government to renovate the school oval. “The remainder was meant to be for a new cafeteria, new library, arts and humanities classrooms, and woodwork and metalwork rooms,” Ms Maidment said. “We are very grateful (for the oval) but the longer the project goes on, the more it will cost. “Stage two was going to cost $30m and should have been completed three years ago. My guess is it will now cost $45m-$50m.” She said the wood and metal shop rooms were “verging on unsafe” amid talk of possibly moving the stations to tranpsortable classrooms. “This is less than desirable,” Ms Maidement said. “Every classroom is engaged, every day, at every hour of the day. “Most educational people would agree with me that there are compromises to be made, but the students are sacrificing a decent place to have lunch breaks. If it’s a rainy or miserable day, they’re stuck.” Ms Maidment said the teachers and school staff were “excellent” at “pulling out all the stops” to ensure students were not forced to sacrifice their education, with ATAR students excelling in previous years. When the Times asked Ms Maidment if being a Margaret River-based school made securing funding more difficult than in metropolitan areas, her response was “there’s no doubt in my mind about that”. “We’re not looking for the Taj Mahal,” she said. “We’re looking for modern education facilities that other modern schools have. Parents are starting to get concerned. “The population is growing, and with more subdivisions putting more students in our feeder primary schools, where are those people going to send their kids? We are at wits’ end of what to do next. “We have given all party candidates for the region (Warren-Blackwood) a tour of the school, and only Bevan Eatts and (the) Nationals have put our school as their No.1 priority. “We keep getting responses of ‘we’re monitoring the situation.” Parents and Citizens chair Joe Forte said he feels the current government is reliant on a “virtually non-existent opposition at the next election”. “It feels like the current government is ignoring the needs of the community,” he said. “The school clearly needs money for further expansion, and the government’s constant reply of ‘we gave you money before’ is a bit like telling our kids ‘I fed you yesterday, why do you need more?’ “We are currently experiencing a trade shortage and the government is completely ignoring the needs of the next crop of students who would help fill these gaps.” A spokesperson for WA Labor said they are committed to “delivering major investments for school upgrades in the South West”. “It’s been a WA Labor Government that has driven key initiatives such as the $36 million in upgrades delivered at Margaret River Senior High School,” they said. “WA Labor has already committed to deliver a range of key investments for school upgrades in the South West region, with more education announcements to be made in the coming weeks. “We continue to monitor population growth and enrolments at the school (MRSHS) to inform future planning.” WA Labor declined to confirm if additonal funding would be delivered for MRSHS. The State election will take place on March 8.