Every classroom, every library and every staff room in every Queensland state school will be air conditioned.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the news would be welcomed by parents, teachers, teacher aides, staff and students alike.
“We want our schools to be places where children can learn in comfortable environments,” the Premier said.
“Cooler schools, better grades, brighter futures – that’s what we’re all about.”
Almost two-thirds of Queensland state schools are already air-conditioned.
Last November, the Premier announced the next 301 schools to be air-conditioned. All 301 are either complete or have contracts awarded.
The Premier said it’s time to do the rest.
“We opened eight new schools this year,” the Premier said.
“We build.
“We deliver.”
Key measures of the $477 million Cooler, Cleaner Schools program include:
– An additional 650 schools to be air conditioned by mid-2022 (including 301 already announced)
– 1000 jobs installing, repairing and maintaining school air-conditioning
– 80,000 school rooftop solar panels to meet running costs (in addition to the 110,000 panels to be installed in our existing ACES program)
– Schools/classrooms who already have air conditioning will not have to pay to have them serviced or replaced in the future
Education Minister Grace Grace said the Palaszczuk Government had taken a methodical approach to rolling out air-conditioning in state schools.
“We have done an audit of state schools outside the Cooler Schools Zone to identify the spaces that aren’t air-conditioned,” Ms Grace said.
“And we have invested more than $200 million since 2015 to air-condition classrooms in all parts of the state.
“I want to thank the hard work done by P&C’s and school communities who have also installed air-conditioning at their local schools.
“This new, ongoing funding means schools can confidently plan for the future, knowing that their air conditioning needs will be catered for.”
Ms Grace said the Palaszczuk Government would also install thousands of additional solar panels, to offset the extra energy usage using cleaner, greener electricity generation.
“This will be achieved through a $71 million boost to our Advancing Clean Energy Schools program, creating a virtual solar farm on school roof tops across the state.
“An extra 80,000 solar panels will generate around 26 MW of additional energy to support our drive for cooler classrooms.”
