Vandalism at Massey High School last November. Photo / Nick Monro, RNZ
An Auckland principal wants more Government action to prevent school vandalism - as it’s revealed vandals have cost taxpayers almost $57 million since the start of 2020.
The Ministry of Education has set aside $9.7m for repairs this year, compared with the $8.2m spent in 2020 - an increase of 17%.
State schools receive funding through an operational grant to address vandalism to ministry-owned buildings and facilities.
The grant is calculated on a per-pupil rate based on the school’s risk level.
If damage exceeds their vandalism allocation, schools can receive a top-up of additional funding.
In the last financial year, $765,030 of top-up funding was approved - almost double the 2020 figure of $457,086.
Auckland schools have seen the most vandalism incidents in recent years - and about 40% of the Government’s funding.
Ōrewa College last month issued a plea for answers, after its sports fields were damaged by a car.
Five West Auckland schools were also targeted by vandals in a week last November, where windows and vehicles were smashed.
There were similar incidents at Beach Haven Primary School, forcing it to put precautionary steps in place.
Principal Stephanie Thompson said vandalism has reduced significantly since they invested in ways to prevent it.
“For example, we’ve got the fencing around the school, we can lock our gates up and we’ve got barrier arms which stop people from coming on to the field and ripping the field up, which was a problem for us in the past.”
Thompson said they also have CCTV - which has been a massive deterrent, and useful if an incident happens.
She said the school was able to get funding for these measures because they had so many problems in the past.
“But actually that preventative stuff should be in place for all schools because it’s a heap cheaper to put the preventative measures in now rather than doing it retrospectively after.”
The Ministry of Education’s chief executive of school property, Jerome Sheppard, said it doesn’t hold a central record of all vandalism incidents, as boards are responsible for managing these events and damage.
“We support schools with funding for security measures like CCTV and alarms, and provide additional support where needed — including in high-risk situations.
“We also offer guidance on prevention, such as improved lighting, secure bin storage, and community engagement.”
Sheppard added that schools get different funding depending on risk, and increases usually happen only when a school requests extra money for a costly, one-off incident rather than an ongoing trend.
But Thompson believes funding for these measures should be more accessible.
She said the new agency to manage school property should look at the rising costs associated with vandalism.
The Crown agent, the New Zealand School Property Agency, is set to be established this parliamentary term, and will be responsible for the building, maintaining, and administering of the school property portfolio.
It will sit separate from the Ministry of Education, which will keep responsibility for education policy and network decisions.
“If I was going to give them some advice, it would be to look at where those rising costs and vandalism are and go and visit the school and work with them to put some preventative measures in place,” Thompson said.
“Because if we could do that, and be the gate at the top of that cliff rather than the ambulance at the bottom, then that’s going to save taxpayers’ money in the long term.
“And if we can save taxpayer money on stuff like vandalism, we can put it into learning support, which is where it’s needed.”
Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. Cunningham joined Newstalk ZB in 2023, after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star.