Building the Education Revolution was a $16.2 billion investment from the Australian Government to: (1) provide economic stimulus through the rapid construction and refurbishment of school infrastructure and; (2) build learning environments to help children, families and communities participate in activities that will support achievement, develop learning potential and bring communities together.

Building the Education Revolution improved the quality of facilities in Australian schools and supported jobs in the construction industry. More information on the Economic Stimulus Plan can be found at www.economicstimulusplan.gov.au.

In NSW, this translated to a $3.4 billion funding boost to government schools for projects to be completed between 2009 and 2011. Every eligible school in NSW received Building the Education Revolution funded works.

This funding was in addition to the record funding provided by the NSW Government towards building and maintaining NSW schools, including the $2 billion Building Better Schools initiative, and the $150 million Principals’ Priority Building Program.

State Government maintenance spending and BER projects

School maintenance funding is a NSW State Government responsibility. Part of NSW’s commitment to the Australian Government as part of the Building the Education Revolution (BER) program is that the State Government would not reduce the level of funding it spent on school maintenance and planned capital expenditure.

The 2010-11 NSW Department of Education and Training’s budget included $263.5 million on maintenance and $623.2 million on planned capital expenditure (major works and minor capital works together). All BER funding was on top of this State Government funding.

The program

Building the Education Revolution comprised three programs:

• Primary Schools for the 21st Century
• Science and Language Centres for 21st Century Secondary Schools
• National School Pride

Employment investment

Over the course of the Building the Education Revolution an average of 11,400 workers were on site each day with approximately 56,000 individuals working over 12 million hours.*

More than 1.6 million hours of work has been accumulated by close to 4,700 apprentices working on the program.*

*As at 13 May 2011