According to a freedom of information request, it will take Canowindra High School 11 years and $491,147 in funding and Canowindra Public School 15 years and $170,268 in funding to complete their current backlog of works.

In contrast Cowra Public School will take 12 years and $378,841 in funding, Mulyan Public School seven years and $140,687 and Cowra High School six years and $255,495 in funding to clear their backlogs.

A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education defended its efforts and said the maintenance bill should be seen in the context of its $25 billion asset base, made up of over 2200 schools across NSW. 

“The Department of Education has a well-defined maintenance strategy,” the spokesperson said.

“All statutory and preventive maintenance is completed as a first priority to ensure our schools are safe and compliant.

“The backlog maintenance at each school reflects the estimated cost of current and future repair work required to ensure buildings continue to perform at an acceptable level. 

‘Over 16/17 and 17/18 it is expected that $2.8 million will be spent in the Cootamundra electorate on planned and priority maintenance.”

The spokesperson said that all schools in NSW will constantly be facing maintenance needs. 

“The 2016/17 State Budget included a record $330 million over two years to address backlog maintenance items. 

“While individual schools will still have backlog maintenance items that will need to be addressed in the future, this funding will reduce the backlog maintenance across the government school system,” the spokesperson said. 

“In a portfolio of properties the size of the department’s it is not feasible to have no outstanding maintenance work.

“The department’s over 2,200 schools will continue to age and there will always be maintenance work.” ​