High Schools in the Hunter are at their tipping point - overflowing and over capacity by 41 per cent.
The latest NSW Auditor General's report has revealed high schools in the Hunter top the list for being the state's most overcrowded, and also shows the region at the top of the list of regions expected to have the highest growth of students after the Metropolitan areas of Sydney.
With student growth only expected to increase, the Department of Education estimates just over 3,500 additional high school classrooms will be needed across NSW by 2031.
In the Hunter alone, the number of students is expected to grow to 4,350.
A number of schools including Rutherford High and Belmont Highschool are relying on demountable classrooms to accommodate the growing populations.
Shadow Minister for the Hunter Kate Washington believes the government clearly has their priories wrong, and they can't seem to get them right.
"The government has entirely failed to plan for the future. It's apparent now and it's just going to get worse as we go forward and the population of students will increase, so while the Premier spent billions of dollars on stadiums and roads in Sydney, she's allowing our students to learn in over crowded classrooms."
Primary schools aren't much better, with most over capacity by 35 per cent, with the number of primary students expected to increase in the Hunter by nearly 6,000 between now and 2031.
Kate Washington says the schools have been neglected and starved of funds with students the ones suffering the most having to learn in overcrowded classes.
"I don't hold high hopes given what we've already learnt about the federal government's intention's around education funding - they should be fully funding the Gonski reforms and that's not happening and that's going to put additional stresses on our schools."
