New South Wales Labor has pledged to reopen the former site of the Shoalhaven Anglican School at Milton for public education.
The Department of Education purchased the site for $4.25 million in 2018 after the school's closure in 2016.
The state government announced plans in 2020 to relocate the Budawang School for Specific Purposes to the part of the site in a move that would benefit about 30 students with special needs.
Labor's candidate for the South Coast electorate, Liza Butler, said the site should always have been used to help ease pressure on overcrowded public schools in the area.
"It's at crisis point," she said.
"With 10 kindergarten classes enrolled this year across Milton and Ulladulla primary schools, in a few years there will be no space for kids.
"So, this announcement today that we will develop the former Shoalhaven Anglican site at Milton for public schools is absolutely amazing."
The New South Wales government has already spent $30 million on the Budawang relocation.
Ms Butler said it would coexist at the site under Labor's plan.
"The front portion of the site has brand new facilities for Budawang – fantastic – but there's still enough room at the back of the school with existing school buildings," she said.
'We're already doing that'
The Liberal party's candidate who hopes to replace incumbent MP Shelley Hancock said the Coalition already had plans to use the site for public education.
"We're already doing that, we've already announced that we will utilise the site for public education," Luke Sikora said.
"That's absolutely guaranteed under a NSW Liberal government.
"We've future-proofed and master-planned it to ensure that what will occur on that site is a future school.
"We need to continue to have those conversations with the local community but also with the local school community."
Mr Sikora said the Budawang school's relocation had simply been prioritised with its opening date scheduled for October this year.
'Wait and see'
Ulladulla High School principal Denise Lofts said she was pleased the issue had received bipartisan support with both major parties now agreeing to use the site for public students.
She said it would be ideal if the site could be used to house a new high school to allow for local primary schools to expand to the existing site of Ulladulla High.
"It is definitely a possibility and if the community is consulted around that then there may be really an appetite around that," she said.
"Ulladulla High School is a beautiful school it's just that we're right at capacity. We're full."
She said the devil would be in the detail.
"A commitment with a timeline – ASAP really – would be good, but I guess we just wait and see what really happens at the end of the day."
The Greens candidate for South Coast and Shoalhaven Mayor, Amanda Findley, said last month she would prioritise building a new school at the site if she was elected.
"As a former high school teacher, I know that all our schools in the south are bursting at the seams," she said.
"With the NSW government expecting councils to grow the population in these areas, there needs to be a firm commitment to education planning and delivery.
"I will also be demanding a comprehensive infrastructure plan for the area — so that our families know when to expect service expansion and delivery."
