A FOOTSCRAY City Primary School parent has hit back after claims the school has misappropriated funds to back its Steiner stream.

Yarraville resident Tim Sharkey, who has two sons in the Steiner program, said allegations the school took money from the mainstream budget were unfounded and sensationalist.

“Each and every time the claim has been made, it (the school) has been independently audited and assessed, and the assessment’s come back and they remain quiet on it for awhile and then they resurface six months, 12 months down the track and essentially make the same claim,” he said.

“One wonders how many times you need to conduct the same audit to actually silence the concern because each and every time the audits been done it’s come back without issue.

“This is a small, hardcore group that is a mixture of parents both within and without the school that have an agenda around Steiner.”

The comments come after Cornelius Chidlow, whose child used to attend Footscray City, told The Age he believed money had been moved around to favour the Steiner stream.

Mr Chidlow told Star last week that he was one of many parents that were outraged about the waste of public funds.

The parents have written to the Auditor-General at the end of October requesting an inquiry.

Mr Chidlow believes the school’s former principal and administration withheld key financial and policy information from the interim school council, which was established in 2006 by Ministerial Order.

“Nobody can see the link between payments at Footscray City Primary School and what the money has been spent on,” Mr Chidlow said.

“It’s a total disaster. We have been able to find several instances of breaches and irregular activity, but we are sure there is more to uncover.”

Documents obtained through Freedom of Information show a sharp decrease in the school’s bank account since the stream was introduced to the curriculum.

In 2001, the school’s bank balance was $305,998. The margin dipped dramatically two years later to $47,548.

The last known bank balance was recorded in 2006 at $163,850.

Mr Chidlow said the interim school council was recently made aware of the school’s intern program and extra lesson program.

At the September interim school council meeting, the council requested a financial report that detailed all the parent fees and charges, including a breakdown of receipts and expenditure for each category.

Footscray City Primary School Acting Principal Annia Dear did not respond to specific questions Star asked about the Steiner stream, but said a Melbourne University review last year found the school’s audit reports to be sound.