The winners and losers in the pre-election education funds race

The Victorian election is looming and it’s likely you’ve been promised funding for new classrooms, gyms and ageing school buildings.

As the pre-election education arms race intensifies, an analysis by The Sunday Age reveals state schools in marginal seats have secured more than 70 per cent of the money pledged by Labor and about 50 per cent of the money promised by the Coalition.

Schools in the seats of Bentleigh, Mordialloc, South Barwon and Albert Park have emerged as big winners in the pork-barrel spending spree.

With less than a month before the state election, Labor has pledged about $642 million in state school infrastructure and the Liberals and the Nationals have promised about $425 million.

But while it’s a good time to be a school in a marginal seat, many of those in safe seats are feeling neglected.

Parents at Kingswood Primary School in Dingley Village have launched a campaign to secure money for their school, which they say hasn’t received infrastructure funding since it opened in 1976.

It’s located in the safe Labor seat of Keysborough in Melbourne's south-east, which is held by Attorney-General Martin Pakula.

Victoria Lemmer, a parent whose son is in prep at Kingswood Primary, said her child had stopped drinking water at school to avoid using its dank bathrooms to urinate.

“He doesn’t like to use the bathroom because they are over 40 years old and have two toilets and one urinal for 100 boys. It was built for 30 boys,” she said.

“The bathrooms are old, dark and smelly and he can't get to a cubicle toilet when he needs one.”

While the school has incredible teachers, a welcoming culture and excellent academic results, Mrs Lemmer said it desperately needed funding.

Water trickles through the school’s rusted roofs when it rains.

Teachers have fixed masking tape to the carpet so they know where to position buckets ahead of a storm.

Anger and joy swept over Mrs Lemmer as she read about pledges totalling $32 million for schools in the neighbouring seat of Mordialloc.

Labor holds this sandbelt seat by a slim margin of 2.1 per cent.

“I was overjoyed for those schools but devastated that yet again our school missed out,” she said.

"When do the children of Kingswood Primary get the same opportunities as those in Mordialloc?"

Cate Hall, the president of public education lobby group Our Children Our Schools, said schools should not receive funding based on their marginal seat status or the campaigning skills of their communities.

Funding should be based on need, and the process should be transparent, Ms Hall said.

“We are not seeing any evidence that either party is making major school upgrade announcements and promises according to equity and need.”

The group has called on the state government to establish a benchmark that details the facilities that every state school needs.

While Labor’s school infrastructure spending favours marginal seats, it should be noted that almost half of the seats it currently holds are considered marginal.

Victorian Education Minister James Merlino said the Andrews government had invested $3.8 billion in school infrastructure over the past four years.

“I think governments should be judged on what they do when they have the opportunity,” he said.

“We know there is more to do and that is why we’ll continue to keep investing in our schools across Victoria.”

The opposition’s education spokesman Tim Smith said the Coalition had promised more than $400 million in infrastructure funding for state schools.

“There is more to come,” he said.

"We don't cancel contracts, anything that is being built on the 24th of November will be built by a Liberal-Nationals government."

In addition to the state school commitments, both Labor and the Coalition have promised $400 million for infrastructure at Catholic and independent schools.