Public schools in the Mudgee region have maintenance backlogs that will take up 15 years to work through if allocations continue at current levels, data obtained in a freedom of information request reveals.
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Overdue repairs in the region’s classrooms and playgrounds total more than $500,000, according to the most recent Department of Education figures.
Now new documents show that eight local schools have maintenance backlogs that will take more than a decade to fix if funding levels go unchanged.
Hargraves Public School faces the region’s longest wait - 15 years - to catch up on its backlog, based on projections from the data.
Heading North, Lue Public School has a $11,897 maintenance backlog that is going to take 5 years.
In Mudgee, both Mudgee Public School and Mudgee High School are looking at extended waits, with a backlog of $311,557 for the schools combined.
Cudgegong Valley Public School has the shortest wait of them all, with just one year to wait for nearly $20,000.
Goolma Public School must wait 6 years for their maintenance, with an expected influx worth $12,672 set over more than half a decade.
Between Gulgong High and Public School, Gulgong has a three year wait, with a $87,612 maintenance backlog – a huge sum for both schools.
Last year's state budget injected $330 million over two years to address backlog, the highest sum committed to maintenance in more than 20 years.
Despite this, across NSW outstanding maintenance tallies $775 million.
Labor has accused the government of “appalling failure” in neglecting NSW’s public schools
Opposition education spokesman Jihad Dib, a former high school principal, said, "our kids can't wait 20 years".
He called on new education minister Rob Stokes to fix the backlog as local children were forced to return to dilapidated classrooms.
The department defended its efforts, saying the maintenance bill should be seen in the context of its $25 billion asset base – over 2200 schools.
A spokesman said: "The Department of Education has a well-defined maintenance strategy.”
“All statutory and preventive maintenance is completed as a first priority to ensure our schools are safe," he said.
"In a portfolio the size of the department's it is not feasible to have no outstanding maintenance work."
