Your school's busted toilets, leaking rooves and broken windows might have to wait. The Department of Education has hoarded millions from its school maintenance budget, leaving a growing list of damage and repair work undone.
Despite a maintenance backlog worth $732 million in 2015 - an increase of 36 per cent on the previous year - the department spent $26 million less than it had budgeted for school repairs, according to the department's 2015 annual report, released this week.
And the forecast spend for the current financial year is tighter again, down from $360 million to $342 million, raising questions about how the department plans to catch up with the works required.
It follows last week's revelation that the department kept more than $200 million in federal funding earmarked for early childhood education, while high fees are blamed for keeping the most disadvantaged NSW families out of preschool and childcare.
There was $281 million overall not spent from the year's education budget, according to the audit of the department published in the report.
Labor's education spokesman, Jihad Dib, said "There's been an underspend across the budget that could be spent on teachers, support staff, maintenance, actual infrastructure for schools, but it hasn't been spent. That's $281 million lying around somewhere. If the minister can tell me what it's for, that's fine."
Mr Dib questioned why the department was not using available funds in the face of enormous growth in student numbers and demand for schools.
"We know there will be in the next 15 years potentially up to 200,000 additional students into the public system and 100,000 in the non government system.. We know we have a tsunami of enrolments coming our way, and we need to start building schools right now. Shouldn't we be spending more?"
Department data obtained by Labor under freedom of information shows that 120 schools have an individual maintenance backlog in excess of $1 million. Northmead Creative and Performing Arts School has the highest maintenance backlog in Sydney with $2.2 million in problems waiting to be fixed. It was followed by Marsden High ($2.1 million); Colo High ($2.1 million), Cheltenham Girls' High ($1.9 million) and Barrenjoey High ($1.8 million).
The most common problems on the maintenance backlog are toilet and sewer upgrades, carpet replacement, painting, and fixing damaged rooves, guttering and windows. The cost of each school's maintenance backlog is calculated by the department based on its contractors' rates.
The Department did not answer questions about why $26 million from the $386 million 2014-15 maintenance budget was unspent or how it would catch up with the growing backlog of repairs required.
A spokesman said: "Since 2011, the NSW Government has committed almost $4 billion to school infrastructure and maintenance, with over $342 million allocated in 2015-16 for school maintenance.
"The Department of Education undertakes regular maintenance of school facilities including preventative/statutory and routine maintenance, planned maintenance and essential urgent repairs.
"On an annual basis a program of maintenance works is developed for each individual school in discussion with principals. Each school's life cycle assessment data and specific items that the school principal considers essential are taken into account during this process."
The Department has been under fire in recent months for failing to plan for new and enlarged schools to accommodate the ongoing boom in student numbers across the state over the next decade.