Education Minister John Paul Langbroek
Education Minister John Paul Langbroek. Photo: Brisbane Times
This month's Fanfare concert, the biennial music festival for state school bands and orchestras, will be the last.
Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek axed the event this morning but assured students and parents the three-day event at QPAC starting on Tuesday, July 31 would still go ahead.
Mr Langbroek said the decision to cut the program, which costs $88,000, was part of the Newman government's plan to get Queensland's budget back on track and keep the LNP's promise to protect frontline services.
In Redlands, Carbrook State School, Redland Bay State School and Victoria Point State High School all participated in this year's Fanfare competition.
No school from Redlands made the finals, which will be held from July 31 to August 2.
Mr Langbroek said the Creative Generation program, which involves many schools from Redland including Cleveland District State High, would not be affected by funding cuts.
Cleveland District State High School principal Paul Bancroft said his students had not participated in Fanfare for six years as the school had concentrated its efforts on the Creative Generation concerts.
More than 1500 kids participate in the Creative Generation, which is operated through a private-public partnership.
Mr Langbroek said he had submitted $22.8million in savings from his Education portfolio by reducing expenditure on Parent Awareness Strategies, cutting advertising and reducing research and policy programs.
"We're reviewing grants to external organisations and working hard to achieve budget savings targets."
However, he said he did not believe quality teaching and learning for Queensland children would be affected under the austerity measures.
