The Ministry of Education has confirmed 352 school projects at 305 schools are being reviewed due to cost escalations.
Affected schools will be communicated with before the list is released publicly, Ministry of Education head of property Sam Fowler said in a statement.
"It is important to note that a review does not mean that a project will be paused," he stated.
"For most projects a review will be undertaken in parallel with ongoing planning and design activities."
1News has sought clarity on how many projects are not in this category and have been paused, as part of the 352 projects.
Earlier today, Education Minister Erica Stanford said she was "extremely frustrated" and was seeking confirmation after being provided with several different lists of affected projects.
"I don't expect that it will be above 350. I certainly hope that it will not be, given the fact that I've made my expectations very clear that I want a full final list of exactly where every school is up to and what condition that they're in."
Fowler said the number of school projects on provisional lists provided to the minister ranged from 245-350 school projects because different financial risk scenarios were considered.
"... For example where expectations have been set or raised," he stated.
On Monday, the Government announced there would be an urgent inquiry into the school property system, with a press release stating planned projects were "unrealistic and unaffordable".
Fowler stated the ministry needs to ensure it's making the "right investment at the right school at the right time" due to construction costs rising and student roll growth projections changing.
He said property projects will include standard, repeatable plans instead of unique designs.
Educators are desperate to see classrooms built, as their students endure leaks, mould and collapsing roofs. (Source: Breakfast)
The current coalition Government and the previous Labour government disagreed on what was appropriate school property spending.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the previous government for poor oversight.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who led the former government, said the National Government was told before last year’s election that it hadn’t accounted for business-as-usual cost increases in its financial plan and it was now making an excuse to cut school building projects.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the Ministry of Education started to pause projects in September last year, including reviewing plans due to cost pressures.
“I have expressed my disappointment to the Ministry, which is why we have set up a Ministerial Advisory Group to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Stanford said.
She said she wanted to understand how this situation occurred.
“How it is that we’re raising expectations, over-engineering? We had scope creep, we’re not using repeatable designs at scale, we had these bespoke designed classrooms by the Ministry’s own admission. How did we get here and how do we solve that in the future?”
Stanford said work was underway to identify schools with critical student roll-growth pressure and to consider what could be done.
Twenty school building projects have already been paused and up to 350 could be scaled down or scrapped. (Source: 1News)
“I’m focused on how do we deliver for schools because schools are waking up, finding out that they’re on the list that is not able to be delivered on.
“It is unfair on them, it’s unfair on their communities.”
The minister pointed to the upcoming Budget process and said school property was a top priority for the Government.
Labour - 'we were always informed'
Former education minister and Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti told 1News that Ministry of Education staff kept her informed of property cost escalations when she was minister and also the education minister before her, Chris Hipkins.
"No project was stopped."
She said officials presented her with options of how a property project could continue if costs had risen. In some cases, this included rescheduling the allocation of budget over time for a project, known as rephasing, or seeking cabinet minister approval for more funding from the wider Education budget or other government money.
Tinetti said funding was often approved in stages to ensure there was ongoing monitoring of a project.
She said $5.4 billion was invested into the Government’s school property portfolio since the 2018 Budget.
The property portfolio includes over 2100 schools and more than 15000 school buildings.
"It would cost approximately $30 billion to replace the school property of all the state and state-integrated schools," the Ministry of Education stated on its website.
Multiple schools have spoken out since the Government announced the school property pause and review, telling 1News of desperately needed repairs to leaking buildings or more space due to student roll growth.
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