Constituency Question - School Zone Changes

SCHOOL ZONE CHANGES.

Thursday, 6 June 2019.

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (11:39):

My constituency question is to the Minister for Education, and I reference my letter to him dated 15 May 2019.

I ask the minister: should the government have consulted the community about changes to Victoria’s neighbourhood school zones before they were forced upon Victorian families?

The new zones, which come into effect in 2020, have a punitive effect on my community as the changes bar some families from enrolling their children in the schools they had planned for.

One affected family in my community has started their first child in primary school this year. Recently the family discovered that the school zone changes will mean that either their younger child will be blocked from attending the same school as their older sibling or the family will have to rip out their first child from that new school.

The community should have been consulted about the proposed changes.