A third of public schools are closed to the public, there’s a push to change that

“We think it’s crazy that some councils are being forced to spend millions of dollars on small pocket parks when they could be supporting more schools to open up their areas to local communities,” he said.

Spear said reopening schools will likely mean more maintenance for schools with limited budgets, and some schools are concerned about potential vandalism and damage.

Data from the Crime Statistics Agency comparing recorded crime damage on public school grounds that are open and school grounds that are closed found no “statistical relationship” between recorded crime damage and whether schools were open or closed.

“In New Zealand, where they’ve decided to open more schools, they’re rating different schools into risk categories based on the level of damage or vandalism that could occur,” Speer said. “Schools receive a set level of maintenance funding to effectively help them cover any additional costs associated with opening them up to the community.”

Spear said if schools are open to the public outside of school hours, they should receive additional funding to cover maintenance and other expenses.

While shared facilities are likely more expensive and more difficult to manage and maintain, Speer said it is more cost-effective to share school grounds than to build separate facilities or incur social and health costs, leaving communities without access to outdoor spaces for play and exercise. .

Amanda Murray-Alston’s children attend Ascot Vale Primary School and spend so much time there outside of school hours that she said: “Sometimes I feel like we live there.”

“We play soccer there on the weekends and ride our bikes,” Murray-Alston said. “Our nearest park is two kilometers from where we are, whereas I can easily walk to school, it’s right down the road.”

A Victorian government spokeswoman declined to provide a list of schools closed to the public or comment on why so many public schools do not allow public access to their grounds.

The spokeswoman also did not comment on whether the government plans to open more public school areas to the public. She said the government had invested more than $16.9 billion in building new schools and upgrading more than 2,200 schools since 2014.

“Most schools already offer public access to their outdoor areas for general leisure purposes, as well as providing access to specialist facilities such as indoor and outdoor areas for sports clubs, community groups and organisations,” the spokeswoman said.

The Infrastructure Victoria report does not address the issue of whether private schools should open their grounds to the public. The issue was highlighted by a dispute between the City of Yarra and Alphington Grammar when the council removed a gate that a private school had installed to block public access to public land on Darebin Creek.

In NSW, leading private schools are facing pressure to open their grounds to the public, but Speer said the report was limited to public schools built on public land.

“Before we think about all the other ways that might be more expensive and complicated, we have a very clear opportunity to access $6.5 billion worth of public land,” he said.

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