Some Central Victorian schools fear a child will be killed if small improvements are not made to local roads.
In Campbells Creek near Castlemaine, primary school principal Rosie Critchley has seen several near misses outside her school on the Midland Highway.
"Near misses where people have had to jump off the road or people have come too quickly," she said.
"We've contacted our local police to come and do speed checks."
Ms Critchley said drivers often sped up while in the 40 kilometres per hour speed zone outside the school because it was a longer-than-usual zone, running between two schools on the same road.
"The speed zones change from 80 to 60 around the corner and people come around very quickly, and then you hit the school crossing," she said.
Ms Critchley has called for flashing lights to be installed to alert drivers of the change in speed limit.
School's 12-year fight for flashing lights
In Colbinabbin, the primary school is on Bendigo-Murchison Road, a busy road between Bendigo and Shepparton that is often used by trucks.
Principal Michael Greenaway said the school community had been calling for flashing lights for more than 12 years to alert drivers to the speed limit.
"We've also asked for fencing along the road to protect kids that are walking to and from school," he said.
"We've been out there with the line marking machine to try and give the kids something to walk beside."
The principal said he had been told the school had to wait until government funding was available, but thought it was taking a long time for what he considered to be a small project.
"It's such a simple fix. We're not asking for a road to be built around the school or anything like that. It's just common sense," he said.
Funding formula 'disadvantages' country schools
Former Rochester Primary School principal Graeme Hodgens said the Department of Transport's formula for allocating funding was problematic.
"If we send one child to a swimming pool, there has to be a lifeguard at the swimming pool, but if we have 20 kids crossing [the road], there's no funding for it," he said.
Mr Hodgens said the criteria for upgrades, which included measuring how busy the roads were, disadvantaged small country schools.
"The formula is based on the usage, which small schools will never get. So you have to have so many pedestrians cross it each morning and each night," he said.
Schools meet current safety guidelines
Department of Transport Loddon Mallee director Melanie Hotton said Campbells Creek and Colbinabbin schools had been assessed recently and were considered compliant with current safety guidelines.
She said the department was continuing to work closely with both schools and local governments to continue to review the sites and look at other safety improvements that could be made.
"The request to fund flashing electronic 40 kilometre school zone signs will be considered in future road safety programs," she said.
Ms Hotton said multiple factors were considered when assessing a school's road safety risk, and "the answer for one may not always be the answer to the other".
She said while traffic was a key factor, it was not the only one considered.
"[We] take into consideration factors such as traffic and pedestrian volumes, but also the types of road users, visibility and sightlines, and existing infrastructure and surrounding speed zones.
"Our road safety experts are continuously monitoring the entire arterial road network across Victoria, including safety around schools, and reviewing the safety guidelines and taking into consideration all of those different factors."
