NSW Government Plans Sale of School Playing Fields

The NSW Government is planning to sell off public school playing fields as it seeks to raise $200 million towards its massive budget deficit.
According to a report in Sydney's The Daily Telegraph, the NSW Department of Education (NSW DoE) has listed almost 700 state schools as being "too big".
Of these there are 282 schools on prime land in Sydney which the NSW DoE has identified as being bigger than a 'standard size' of three hectares for primary schools or six hectares for high schools.
The NSW DoE is to audit the schools to determine if their land is surplus and, according to a strategy document "to determine feasibility of disposal." Land beyond the standard size, which will include playing fields, playgrounds and park areas, is likely to sold in a fire sale to meet the NSW Government's budget defecit, which is believed to exceed $2 billion.
The Daily Telegraph reported that "school land campaigners are horrified children faced losing playgrounds", quoting "parent Tiffany Spiers who has been working on a campaign to save land at Hurlstone Park High School as saying 'children learn through activities and through playing. If you start chopping up those schools all you have got is children in classrooms or battling for space.
"'The problem we have is school communities are growing. If we start selling public education, which is what they are doing, the only option for parents such as myself is private education.'"
The sale of school playing fields to developers in Britain in the 1980s is widely seen to have led to a massive decline in British sport participation and permanently affected elite performance in many sports, particularly cricket.