The NSW Department of Education and Communities and BER Program Office want to ensure that no money allocated to the NSW government school system by the Australian Government is lost and that all schools benefit fairly from the Building the Education Revolution program in NSW.

The budget transfer pool will be used to fund other projects that may, for a variety of reasons, be running over-budget in order for those schools to receive their full project scope.

Funding was allocated to schools solely based on enrolment numbers and not the features or the location of the school site. As a result, the costs of delivering similar projects have varied greatly. Of those receiving money, nearly two thirds are small schools. Of those we expect will have a surplus available for transfer, 80% are larger schools and most are in the greater metropolitan area.

The transferred funds will enable the BER Program Office to complete all our planned projects and reinstate project scope elements including covered walkways, water tanks and solar panels that had been previously been removed. This will also fund the provision of resources such as Interactive Whiteboards to eligible schools.

Schools that are receiving their approved project in full and have money left over, above the 5% contingency, are being contacted to allow the BER Program Office to transfer the left over money to the BER budget transfer pool.

To ensure the process is completely transparent, a list of Schools that have agreed to transfer funds to the BER Budget Transfer Pool and those Schools potentially receiving funds will also be published at the same time.

See below for the list of schools who have agreed to transfer the remaining funds and those schools who will benefit from the transfer of funds. Schools with an * have agreed to donate when funds were available.

Based on current estimates, around 932 schools will need to receive transfers from the transfer pool.

It is not a definitive representation of the Schools, as project costs are not final. The lists can change as we get closer to the delivery of the program and able to determine the final costs.

The BER Program Director would like to thank school Principals and the NSW Primary Principals’ Association for their ongoing support of this process.

Click here to view the letter of support from the NSW Primary Principals’ Association.

Further information about the budget transfers procedure can be found in the Managing the P21 Program fact sheet.

Published 21 December 2011