Refurbishment backlog

The school year is new, but many schools are old

The SPÖ criticizes the lack of progress on urgently needed school building renovations in Upper Austria. It sees a massive "backlog", although numerous projects have long been ready for construction and approved. There would be enough money available and the domestic construction industry would benefit from orders. 

On November 30, 2001, the project to renovate the elementary school in Münzbach was submitted - but even after more than 20 years, it has still not been implemented. And Münzbach is just one example of many. A year ago, a total of 42 projects with a financing volume of 107 million euros were ready for construction and approved, as the responsible deputy governor Christine Haberlander listed at the time in response to a question from the SPÖ. For SPÖ education spokesperson Doris Margreiter, it is incomprehensible that "thousands of pupils in countless communities have had to wait years for a modern learning environment".

So there would be enough money, but we also need the political will to enable our children to learn in a modern learning environment.

Doris Margreiter, SPÖ-Bildungssprecherin

"There would be enough money"
This is why she has now asked Haberlander again whether the "school renovation backlog" has been cleared in the meantime. Now would be the right time to spend money on school renovations, says Margreiter. On the one hand, the order situation in the construction industry has been tense for months and, on the other, the state has a positive transfer balance of around 425 million euros. "So there would be enough money," concludes Margreiter.

Insufficient project documentation
Haberlander, who now has until mid-October to answer the question, has already rejected the demand for a "school renovation offensive" in the past: All projects eligible for approval would be approved anyway. In many cases, however, the necessary documents are missing.