CRC Sydenham students Mary-Anne and Phung share their fare with Education Minister Martin Dixon. 81025 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By LAURA WAKELY
EDUCATION Minister Martin Dixon made the most of a tour of Catholic Regional College Sydenham last week, viewing the school’s state-of-the-art Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) and Vocational Education and Training (VET) workshops and studios.
Principal Brendan Watson said the school was yet to be affected by the Government’s cuts to the VCAL program because the Catholic Education Office had provided the school with $100,000 to cover the cut this year.
But Mr Watson said there was “no guarantee” that funding would continue and asked the Minister to continue helping schools provide “legitimate pathways”.
“The most important thing for any politician is to hear stories and today the Minister heard stories from young people about their experience in education,” Mr Watson said.
Mr Dixon said he was impressed with the school’s facilities, students and teachers but that the Government was unlikely to restore the funding.
He also admitted the State Budget had offered no funding for Brimbank schools, but said there had been a “massive call” on public funding.
“Unfortunately we’ve inherited a situation where we’ve got more than 200 schools ready to go out to tender for their master plan,” Mr Dixon said.
“They were led to believe that if you went through the process you’d get the money in the end. But there’s no way known in any Government where you could fund 200 projects in one go.”
