The state government announced last week it would cut $12million in funding to schools for co-ordination of the Victorian Certificate Of Applied Learning program.

Representatives of three Casey schools met the Opposition spokesman on education Rob Hulls at the Narre Warren South P-12 College last week to discuss the impact of the cuts.

Assistant principal and senior VCAL co-ordinator Rob Duncan told Mr Hulls the school would lose $120,000 - equating to the salaries of 1?teachers.

He said the cut revealed a lack of understanding of the VCAL program.

"Anyone can run a VCE program but VCAL is very labour-intensive to run."

He said program co-ordinators had to arrange work placements and vocational training for students and a lot of welfare work.

"A lot of these kids have very significant

welfare issues. If that program doesn't run, these kids will leave school and they won't come back."

Narre Warren South is one of the state's largest VCAL providers, with 470 students enrolled in at least one VCAL subject this year.

It has also achieved exceptional results in the past few years, with 10 state awards, including for teacher and student of the year.

Mr Duncan said no one from the state government had visited the school to see how VCAL worked. "I would invite them to come out and look at our program and see how vital it is for our students."

School council president Greg Bailey said the VCAL program had helped hundreds of the college's students into apprenticeships and traineeships, and kept many young people in school who would otherwise have left.

"The ramifications of the cuts for our students will be significant.

"It is our children who will be affected in the long run. It is our right to demand an education that will ensure our children have the right tools to carry on into a successful future."

Mr Bailey said the government's decision was made without any consultation with schools. Representatives of Kambrya and Alkira colleges also attended the meeting.

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