New England schools stand to benefit from up to $200,000 in grants for small scale projects under a new funding initiative.
Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, said applications will open this week for the $30.2 million Local Schools Community Fund.
Under the fund, all government, Catholic and independent schools in the electorate will be eligible to apply for funding ranging from $1,000 to $20,000.
“Whether that’s for something as simple as new air-conditioning, furthering our wealth of sporting talent with new sports equipment, or implementing extra youth mental health support and counselling services, all projects will be considered,” Mr Joyce said.
“Every school is different, from small state schools like in my hometown of Woolbrook, to big facilities in Tamworth and Armidale, so we’re putting schools in the driver’s seat and asking them to identify where the added resources would be best invested to benefit their students.”
Minister for Education Dan Tehan said projects would be assessed on the benefit they would bring to the school community.
“The Coalition Government is providing record funding for Australian schools,” Mr Tehan said. “We will increase funding for all primary and secondary schools across all sectors by an average of 62 per cent per student.
“The Local Schools Community Fund is additional funding that builds on our investment by allowing individual schools to nominate their own projects that will make the biggest difference to their school community.”
Schools can lodge one application for each of their campuses and use SchoolsHUB – https://schools.education.gov.au/ to apply. Applications open on 25 July 2019 and close
30 September 2019. Projects must be completed by the end of 2020.
A committee will be established by Mr Joyce, and all local Members of Parliament in every electorate to independently assess each application from schools within their electorate. The Local Schools Community Fund is open to all schools, with every electorate in Australia to receive a funding pool of $200,000 but eligibility conditions will apply. For more information about the Fund, see the factsheet here.
(ENDS)