BALLARAT schools will be encouraged to form partnerships with local businesses under a new State Government plan. Victorian Premier John Brumby yesterday unveiled the government's Blueprint for Education and Early Childhood Development for the next five years. The plan would see large companies provide mentoring to students and leadership and governance help to schools across the state. Ballarat Secondary College principal Paul Rose said there was a lot to be gained from forging stronger ties between school and business."A lot of businesses recognise that one of their responsibilities is social capital building," Mr Rose said.He said he had worked at schools which had enjoyed "fruitful" relationships with businesses, and a statewide code for how schools could engage with business would ensure "everybody knows the rules of the game".But he cautioned that there would still be things schools would need to be careful of."Schools should never be in a position to be endorsing a particular product," he said. Mr Brumby said the program would not be a plank for promoting corporate interests. "Those things are matters for school councils and principals, but if you're talking about, is this as an opportunity for commercial promotion _ it is not, it is clearly not," Mr Brumby said. The plan also contains a funding pot of about $10 million to pay unhappy teachers to quit. Education Minister Bronwyn Pike would not say how much individual teachers would be offered, only that the money was intended to help them to pursue alternative careers. The blueprint includes a program to lure top university graduates from other disciplines into teaching, executive contracts for high-performing principals and investigating rewards and incentives for teachers.