Dozens of Victorian public schools will be waiting until after the next state election for key infrastructure projects – promised by the then premier, Daniel Andrews, in 2022 – to come to fruition.
Before the November 2022 state election, Andrews pledged to spend $850m upgrading 89 schools, to be completed by the end of 2026. The upgrades were later extended to 96 schools.
This week’s 2025-26 budget papers revealed 28 of the schools would be waiting for the promised capital works – which included new gymnasiums, performing arts and science centres and new learning spaces – until at least 2027, after the next state election.
Last year’s 2024-25 budget allocated $227m to deliver promised capital upgrades at 25 of the schools, with the rest allocated funding in previous budgets. It pushed funding for the further 29 schools into this year’s budget.
Tuesday’s budget papers confirmed just one of the 29 projects would be completed by October 2026, with the rest languishing until 2027 at the earliest.
The budget, the first delivered by the new treasurer, Jaclyn Symes, included $1.5bn to deliver new schools, upgrades and maintenance, as part of the state government’s promise to build 100 new schools across Victoria by 2026.
In total, just five of the 96 promised upgrades had been completed and 11 were in construction, almost three years after their announcement. The rest remained in the design or planning stage, the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) website showed.
For St Kilda Primary school, this year’s budget was yet another disappointment, seven years after the state government delivered $10.5m to upgrade the campus. As part of the upgrade, its hall was demolished in 2020 to make way for new capital works.
One parent, Caroline Thornton, has been lobbying with more than 200 families and students to draw attention to the funding need. Some 440 students have no indoor space for assemblies or physical education.
“St Kilda Primary is the largest school in the area with no facilities to accommodate … inclement weather, and nowhere to hold events,” she said. “The state government promised a replacement hall, but this part of the school’s master plan remains unfunded.”
Victoria’s shadow minister for education, Jess Wilson, said Labor had “broken its promise to deliver these desperately needed projects by November 2026”.
“The Allan Labor government has put a go-slow on these upgrades and the needs of students on pause as it scrambles to pay Victoria’s more than one million dollar an hour interest bill,” she said.
But Victoria’s education minister, Ben Carroll, said the Liberals were “lying to Victorians” and the budget had delivered funding on “every promised school upgrade”.
“Our priority is – and has always been – that every child, no matter where they live, has access to a world-class education for free in a Victorian government school backed by full and fair funding,” he said.
Meanwhile, environment groups say nature and biodiversity has been short-changed by the Victorian budget.
Environment Victoria welcomed new money for efficient electric hot water and home insulation, but raised concerns about the lack of support for nature or threatened species.
Nature campaigner Greg Foyster said: “If the government wants to invest in the great outdoors for the longer term, we need to see a massive increase in funding for parks and reserves, biodiversity programs and saving threatened species.
“The Parliamentary Inquiry into Ecosystem Decline recommended increasing funding for parks and reserves to 1% of gross state product. One percent doesn’t seem too much to ask to ensure the survival of all the animals, plants, wetlands, forests and special places in Victoria, but the current funding is pitifully small.”
Energy and environment department funding was down overall in 2025-26 compared to the previous year. The budget also included a 19% cut to environment and biodiversity, and a reduction in funding for the management of public land and forests of 26%.
The Victorian National Parks Association said the budget also locked in previous cuts to Parks Victoria and fisheries officers, with few new initiatives for nature.
“Last year we saw Parks Victoria hit with severe staff cuts, arbitrary reviews and the sacking of an experienced CEO. That’s no way to treat the agency responsible for looking after the places millions of Victorians love and rely on,” said VNPA’s executive director, Matt Ruchel.
On Tuesday, the environment minister, Steve Dimopoulos, said in a statement: “We’re taking care of our native wildlife and environment while making sure Victorian families can continue to enjoy our amazing zoos and our incredible great outdoors for less.”
But the minister did not respond to questions about cuts to environment.
Victorian Labor faces continued pressure over recent revelations by the Age that $2.4bn in funding for state schools was quietly delayed in last year’s 2024-25 budget, pushing back its commitment to fully fund public schools by three years to 2031.
It places Victoria three years behind Queensland, which has committed to reach 75% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) by 2028, and six years behind New South Wales, which is due to reach the benchmark this year.
Speaking on ABC Melbourne on Wednesday, the premier, Jacinta Allan, was asked if it was fair for Gonski funding to be delayed by three years.
“We are working through the terms of the agreement with the federal government,” she said.
“Because what’s not OK is that in the past government schools have not been funded as fairly as non-government schools.”
A spokesperson for the federal education minister, Jason Clare, said an agreement had been reached with Victoria to increase the commonwealth funding share to 25% of the SRS by 2034 and, in return, Victoria must reach and maintain the remaining 75%.
But when it did so was up to them.
“The minister will not be negotiating this bilateral agreement through the media.”
