A record capital injection of $550 million will go to Tasmanian schools over the next four years thanks to the State Government's strong education partnership with the Rudd Government, Premier David Bartlett said today.

The Premier confirmed the extent of the school modernisation program as he toured Claremont's Holy Rosary School with Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard today.

To date, 139 primary schools across Tasmania have shared in $229 million worth of new capital investment commitments through Rounds 1 and 2 of the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program, a key element of the Australian Government's Building the Education Revolution (BER) package. This will support construction industry jobs and building better education facilities for the future.

"This is a tangible result for Tasmania as a result of the State Government working closely with the Australian Government to give our children the very best education opportunities," Mr Bartlett said.

"It beggars belief, frankly, that Will Hodgman and the State Liberals have opposed the stimulus package that is helping deliver these critical funds to our schools.

"The Liberals are against building better Tasmanian schools and they are against investing in the future of our children, which is a terrible message for an alternative government to be sending out to the community.

"I would strongly encourage Mr Hodgman to embrace this investment and to be positive about the future of education in Tasmania.

"We will not be deterred by the usual negativity of the State Liberals and we will keep working with Julia Gillard and the Rudd Government to roll out new investments in our schools and new opportunities for young Tasmanians to learn in the very best education environments."

The partnership approach has delivered between $250,000 and $3 million to individual schools so far, including 34 new multi-purpose halls and 19 new libraries.?

Mr Bartlett said that there are three programs under the BER initiative: Primary Schools for the 21st Century; National School Pride; and Science and Language Centres for 21st Century Secondary Schools.

Successful Round 2 schools in the Primary Schools for 21st Century program include:

· $2 million for a new library at Deloraine Primary,

· $2 million for a new multi-purpose hall, library and classrooms at Boat Harbour Primary,

· $850,000 for an early childhood learning facility at Mountain Heights School in Queenstown,

· $250,000 for a new multi-purpose hall at Ouse District High,

· $850,000 for a new multi-purpose hall at Swansea Primary and

· $850,000 to refurbish the existing library at Westbury Primary.

Mr Bartlett said that Round Two was the second last round of the Primary Schools for the 21st Century program, with the third and final round seeing funding delivered to all eligible schools across the country.

"The BER program continues with projects under the Science and Language Centres for the 21st Century and the final round of Primary Schools for the 21st Century still to be announced," Mr Bartlett said.

Mr Bartlett said that successful partnership negotiations and agreements with the Australian Government had resulted in an investment of $1.164 billion for Tasmania?s education and training sector in this year's State Budget.

"In 2009-10 alone, the Department of Education?s total capital investment budget will increase from its 2008-09 level of $41.805 million to $240.735 million," Mr Bartlett said.

"This shows we are playing a strong partnership role with the Rudd Government in investing in better school facilities for our children.

"The next few months will be exciting as the investment in our schools will flow down through to local businesses and others in the construction industry."

A full list of schools is available on the national website www.buildingtheeducationrevolution.gov.au or by clicking on the link on the Department of Education front page.