A last-ditch attempt: Educators have stepped in to fill the void after Strathbogie Council decided it won’t foot the bill for a state government responsibility any longer.
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The state government resumed funding the school crossing program in Strathbogie Shire after the shire exited the program in March.
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At the time, Mayor Laura Binks said that leaving the program seemed like the only way to get the Department of Transport and Planning’s attention.
“Council pays about 62 per cent of the program costs to deliver this Victorian Government service,” she said.
“This means council — and our ratepayers — are spending about $50,000 a year to deliver a service that is not ours. It’s the responsibility of the Victorian Government.
“This situation is being faced by all councils, and together with 28 other local government areas across the state we have been advocating to seek the restoration of funding for this critical service.”
As Strathbogie stepped out of the program, some school principals began supervising the school crossings themselves in the meantime.
After months of back-and-forth between the Strathbogie Shire Council and the state government, the four schools located on Victorian Government-managed roads are supervised again. These schools are St John’s Primary School in Euroa, Euroa Primary School, Avenel Primary School, and St Joseph’s Catholic School in Nagambie.
Nagambie Primary School is located on a council-managed road. Thus, it has not received state government funding for crossing supervision.
Nationals Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland at St John’s Primary School in Euroa, one of the schools to have their crossings supervised again.
State Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland said it was pleasing to see this issue being resolved.
“It is a relief for many members of the community, particularly the parents of local school children, that most of these crossings will go back to being supervised,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Now the next step is ensuring that Nagambie Primary School gets the same treatment, there is no reason why these students shouldn’t be kept safe, too.”
Ms Cleeland, who had previously raised the issue in Parliament, said that the program needed long-term guaranteed funding.
“The conversations I had with members of the community made it clear that this was something that needed to be fought for, and I’m glad to see something resembling a resolution now — at least in the short term,” Ms Cleeland said.
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