I'm advised that more than $240,000 was spent on maintenance at Wagga Wagga High School in 2015⁄16. A further $390 million has been allocated in 2016⁄17 and 2017⁄18 to address backlog maintenance in schools across the State.

This funding will continue to address the $1 billion education maintenance backlog left by Labor when we came to government.

The Department of Education works directly with principals to develop a program of maintenance works for every school. The backlog maintenance at each school reflects the estimated cost of current and future repair work required to ensure buildings continue to perform at an acceptable level.

At any time, the maintenance liability will be a mixture of work that needs to be done immediately and work that may soon need to be done, depending on how the facility is performing. So, only a portion of the maintenance liability at any one time is work that needs to be done straight away.

Any maintenance issue that poses a safety risk to students or staff is addressed immediately. Any broken items in classrooms that impact on teaching and learning are addressed as a matter of priority by the school or the department.