School Openings, Closures and Asset Disposal

School and project openings

Schools are required to organise an official opening for all major capital works valued at $100,000 or more.  Appropriate ministers – whether State and/or Commonwealth (depending on the sources of funding contributed to a project) – are invited to attend opening ceremonies or send a representative. Schools should liaise with their Departmental Regional Offices in the matter of formal invitations.

Where a completed project is an early part of a larger multi-stage development, the opening can be deferred until the completion of an appropriate stage.

School closure

In some instances, a school community may determine that it is in the best interests of its students to close and transfer students and teachers to appropriate other schools. In cases where enrolments fall below a viable number for school operation and curriculum delivery, schools need to consider the options of closure, merger, of being declared remote, or of operating for an approved period of time with a less than tenable enrolment before making a recommendation to the Minister for Education.

Asset disposal

Asset disposal is considered within an overall planning framework that accounts for changing priorities and the need to steer resources where they are most needed. In conjunction with the Department’s Regional Offices, the process necessarily involves local community consultation.

In relation to “non real estate” assets, the Department ensures that furniture and equipment is appropriately dispersed, that student records are archived, and that all school memorabilia is stored or forwarded to relevant community organisations.

Relocatable classrooms - are the property of the Department and may be removed from one site to another if the “donor” site is deemed to have an over entitlement of teaching space.
Notification is forwarded to the school no less than four weeks prior to the actual removal, and the Department provides contractors to attend to all remedial site works.

Real estate - disposal is managed by the Department’s Property Unit.  School sites and buildings are disposed of in accordance with guidelines issued by the Government Land Monitor (Department of Planning and Community Development).
A site which is declared surplus is initially offered to other Government Departments, then to the local government authority for purchase at a market price determined by the Valuer General.  In the event that neither Government Departments nor the local council have an interest in the site, it is rezoned (if necessary) and offered for sale through public tender or auction.  
Funds from the disposal of land are returned to the Department's capital works program and reinvested in other educational facilities.