Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The government will appoint a de facto chief executive to oversee school property following a critical ministerial inquiry.
The inquiry led by former National Party Minister Murray McCully and published today described the Education Ministry's handling of the $30-billion property portfolio as bureaucratic and inefficient.
It said the ministry was often slow to respond to growth and architecturally-designed buildings were costing too much.
It recommended greater use of prefabricated classrooms and the creation of an entirely separate agency to oversee school property.
Speaking at the Lower Hutt manufacturer of modular buildings, Education Minister Erica Stanford confirmed she would appoint a "functional chief executive" for school property and the government would decide next year whether to create a new organisation.
"We're going to be putting in place a functional chief executive that will report directly to me.
"We're also going to be putting in place an external investment board, an investment panel to make sure that we can drive even more efficiency, even more value for money and help us into the transition to phase three, which is considering a different way that we can deliver school property."
Stanford said the government had already increased the use of modular, pre-constructed buildings.
"It costs the ministry on average $1.2 million at the moment for one classroom. There are companies that can deliver, on-site for $400,000.
"There is a huge, yawning gulf in between architecturally-designed, bespoke buildings and off-site manufactured builds and repeatable designs which is what we're driving to."
Stanford said the government would consider changes to school maintenance too.
"There is a certain responsibility on a school board to take control and responsibility of their maintenance but we are also looking at how do we get really good value for money if we're able to do that at scale.
"There has been a programme that the ministry has run that has been extraordinarily successful in our rural and isolated schools and we will be looking at how do we potentially replicate that."
Post Primary Teachers Association Secondary Principals Council chairperson Kate Gainsford said it welcomed improvements to school property.
"We are pleased that a functioning chief executive (FCE) unit is being set up to prioritise school property - there is a tremendous amount of catching up to do and hopefully the FCE will mean this will happen at pace," she said.
However, Gainsford said principals were worried about plans for a separate school property agency.
"Property functions must have a clear and close connection and integration with other planning and resourcing decisions affecting schools.
"This is crucial - the further away from the public service an entity becomes, and the more that it focuses on commercial efficiencies, the higher the risk that it misses the required integration with other planning and resourcing affecting schools. A good example of this is roll growth as a result of immigration."
