18 Jul 2018 Border Mail, Albury-Wodonga (General News) by Chris Young BEECHWORTH Secondary College will finally get its long-awaited funding to repair and upgrade their campus. Northern Victoria MP Jaclyn Symes announced two lots of funding for the school on Tuesday. First, a to-be-confirmed figure of between $800,000 and $1 million, has been allocated for priority works to address immediate maintenance and health and safety concerns at the school. The second, a $9.4 million commitment, and pending the result of the November state election, is to fund a new science and resource centre. This is something Im very proud of, I know its been a long time, I wish it was earlier, but Im really grateful to James Merlino for his support for the school, as well as their hard-working principal Patricia Broom, Ms Symes said. This is a school that has been very high on my priority list from the day I was elected. I came here before I was elected, Ive been coming here for almost four years and Ive recognised the needs of this school in that time. We know there are many schools in need and we know a budget cant fund every school at once. What I would like to do is commend the community campaign here. Soon after the announcement, Benambra MP Bill Tilley said a Liberal-National government would match the funding commitment. College principal Patricia Broom said she was pleased with the long-awaited announcement. This is about giving students the opportunity to have a similar experience to students at other schools in the region, she said. They deserve to have a school in their town thats of a similar standard to the original. We have a really strong science program at the school, weve secured grants for robotics and other things in that area, lots of kids are interested in those areas. This means they can work and expand on what they study and do in better facilities than the old buildings they work in now. Mrs Broom also thanked the community for their long-term support in securing both lots of funding. A lot of parents in that action group have been parents that arent here right now, but parents of grade four and five students who want to use their local school.