Northern Metropolitan Region
Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (14:11): (970) My question is for the Minister for Education. Coburg High School in my electorate has a vibrant and important instrumental music program that is accessed by hundreds of students every week. It provides wonderful opportunities for performance, and it nurtures students who become the artists that define Melbourne’s iconic musical culture in the inner north. Sadly, the school’s instrumental music funding has been lagging for years. The school has seen an exponential growth in student numbers, yet funding for the music program has seemingly only been indexed year on year. The school council has been advocating consistently to you about this, but there has been no shift in funding. It is so important that music programs are well funded, as the arts are integral to the lives of Victorians and an asset to our state, especially in Melbourne. Minister, will you properly fund the Coburg High School instrumental program so that the school does not have to pay the $80,000 to $100,000 gap again next year?