Ben Leahy speaks to principals from 20 schools where building projects have been put on hold as the Ministry of Education battles budget blowouts. Everything you need to know about the latest status of the projects is below - and is your school among the 20?
Excitement had been building at Kaipara College, 50km northwest of Auckland.
Its new innovation centre – multi-million dollar art and technology classrooms – had been nine years in the planning until finally - in December 2023 - construction was just days from starting.
Then Ministry of Education officials phoned out of the blue. The project had been put on hold.
It was an “absolute shock” and “blow” to the community, principal Cindy Sullivan told the Herald.
The school board quickly wrote to new Education Minister Erica Stanford and other politicians, saying they were “dumbfounded”.
How could the new classrooms be halted just days before construction began, when the school had completed years of due diligence and consultation, had gained building approval - and even had its budget approved by the Government just three months earlier.
“Kaipara College is a no-frills rural school and proud of it … we don’t have a fancy gymnasium or high-spec auditorium,” the board wrote.
“But that does not mean our students should be learning in buildings that are old, cold and uninspiring.”
Iona Holsted, the Secretary for Education, wrote back apologising for the ministry’s poor handling of the project, according to reports by RNZ.
The innovation centre’s high building costs – as much as $30 million - had been common knowledge since early 2023, yet these hadn’t been properly scrutinised until just before builders were due to be hired, Holsted admitted.
Yet Kaipara College wasn’t alone.
Soon it would be discovered that hundreds of planned new classrooms across the country are at risk.
The ministry last month confirmed it had paused plans to build new classrooms and gyms at 20 schools across the country
It also announced it would be reviewing up to 350 school projects - and that there may not be enough money to finish them.
A massive project to relocate and rebuild three schools in Marlborough in the South Island - where the estimated costs reportedly grew from $170m to $405m - became the most high-profile casualty of the ministry’s cost-cutting.
Stanford used the Marlborough project as justification to launch a government inquiry.
She said cost over-runs showed that schools, through no fault of their own, had been given expectations about what could be built that “far exceeded what could be delivered”.
Opposition leader Chris Hipkins countered by saying the former Labour government had attempted to fix years of under-investment in schools and that the coalition Government was looking for an “excuse” to back out of paying for the work.
Yet while the politicians argue, schools are now seeking answers.
The Herald contacted principals from 20 schools publicly named as having had their building projects paused by the ministry.
Many criticised the ministry’s poor communication, saying they had projects paused or “cancelled abruptly”.
Davida Suasua, principal of Auckland’s Rosehill College, said it is “very frustrating” to think 10 new music and technology classrooms could be cancelled at her school, despite a decade of planning.
“I was annoyed - almost 10 years on, and we are still addressing the same concerns,” she said.
Ashburton College principal Simon Coleman told the Herald an “in-depth” review originally called for his school’s entire 50-year-old Canterbury campus to be rebuilt.
“The ministry at first decided a rebuild would be cheaper than upgrading the existing buildings,” he said.
However, since then, the ministry had continually scaled down the project, while costs were believed to have escalated from $50m up to $70m, Coleman said.
First a new administration block was removed from the plans, then a technical block - and now with the recent ministry review, the remaining plans for new classrooms have also been paused, he said.
“That’s left the school without money to replace or renovate a host of buildings,” he said.
A number of principals also talked about potential financial waste.
RNZ reports that $24.5m was spent on the Marlborough project to relocate and rebuild Marlborough Girls’ College, Marlborough Boys’ College and Bohally Intermediate before it was cancelled.
Back at Kaipara College, Sullivan told the Herald significant money had been spent on her school’s now-paused innovation centre.
That included building a new carpark after it was decided the new classrooms would be built on the site of the old carpark.
“We’ve now got two carparks, one we don’t really need,” she said.
Invercargill’s James Hargest College principal Mike Newell said delays to projects were forcing his school to spend money fixing leaky buildings already earmarked for demolition.
His school is currently painting its old and leaking administration block because it may need to be used for another 10-15 years.
Similarly, Gareth Scholes, principal of Tauranga’s Greenpark School, said delays to building new classrooms meant money would instead be spent upgrading temporary “pre-fab” classrooms.
The temporary classrooms will now be fitted with new porches, decks and carpet despite only having building approval to stand for five years, he said.
A number of principals also told the Herald they supported a review into the ministry’s process of approving new builds.
Tony Giles, principal of Warkworth’s Mahurangi College, said many plans “have been over-designed, over-spec’d and over-priced over the last decade”.
“Essentially, all we need is simple fit-for-purpose classrooms where our teachers can work their magic.”
Newell urged the ministry to begin building large numbers of modular classrooms in factories.
Scholes agreed, saying most projects could be delivered by choosing from pre-determined designs that have been proven to work.
“We need to probably give schools less choice but still have flexibility if that makes sense, it shouldn’t be a blank canvas,” he said.
He said plans to build eight classrooms at Greenpark School had supposed to follow a streamlined process by using a “reference” design.
“But then it was basically designed from scratch, so it ended up being a lot longer.”
With limited details available from the Ministry of Education, the Herald asked school principals about the status of new classroom building projects at their schools and whether they knew the estimated costs.
Don Buck primary principal Sandy Stirling said that after three years planning, the new classrooms were “cancelled abruptly” late last year to the surprise of parents and the community.
Senior students will now be stuck in “old, siloed classrooms” at a time when the school is striving to create “collaborative, flexible learning spaces”.
Sullivan said the new facility would have replaced art and technology classrooms that are too old to handle modern lessons.
But with no alternative plans in place, she doesn’t know what will come next and said significant money has already been spent on the project.
Principal Louise Broad said building work on the six new classrooms should have started midway through last year. However, the project was halted in September “because costs escalated”.
Broad supports a review of spending on school building projects but said in Kowhai’s case the school is five classrooms short of what it is entitled to based on how many students are enrolled at it.
Despite Mahurangi College’s new classrooms being named among projects that are paused, Giles said the ministry told him last month the build is currently progressing as planned. It has, however, suffered a number of delays in the past.
Giles wants to see the ministry move to building “simple, fit-for-purpose classrooms” because rapid student growth is leaving schools increasingly desperate for new teaching spaces.
Māngere College didn’t provide comment.
Principal Anna Kenny said Orewa College has been “severely” impacted by news it may take until 2029 to get its new classrooms built.
The school had been under pressure since 2004 when it expanded to take in the adjacent Orewa Primary school – “a school with substandard facilities”.
School officials were therefore delighted when - after five years’ planning - they “finally” got approval for a 12-classroom technology block to help meet a growth in Year 7 and 8 students.
Work was expected to start in 2023/24 and would “have also started to provide major upgrades to site infrastructure, including flood mitigation and integrated fire, security, and communications systems”, Kenny said.
Suasua said she is yet to officially hear whether a project to build 10 new classrooms for technology and music lessons has been paused.
Any delay would, however, be “very frustrating” because the 10 new specialist classroom are urgently needed, she said.
A report first recommended new music and technology facilities 10 years ago, with the sports facilities now also starting to age.
Suasua highlighted how principals can be loaded with extra work planning for projects that don’t come off.
Principal Fina Hallman said plans to build 11 new classrooms had now been scaled down to include seven new classrooms for the school.
That is made up of five classrooms for the school and two satellite classrooms to teach students with special needs.
Building plans are now being revised as planners hunt for “cost efficiencies”, Hallman said. Once that is done, planners will apply for construction funding.
“Whilst we are disappointed that this project has not yet been completed, we look forward to our new classrooms opening in the near future,” Hallman said.
Principal Lynda Stuart accepts the ministry’s decision to pause the construction of six new classrooms at her school due to it having fewer new students enrolled than was predicted. The classrooms would have been stage two of building work at the school.
Stuart said she is grateful for stage one which is currently under construction and includes 15 new classrooms designed to accommodate a huge growth in housing and students within the Mt Roskill area.
Principal Grant Burns said it is “very frustrating” that 18 months after being given project approval there is now “any doubt at all about its viability”.
The project has already suffered delays, having originally been planned to finish by August 2023.
Still, he is hopeful it will still go ahead given the several years of planning, consultation and infrastructure preparation have gone into it.
He supports identifying cost savings, saying the ministry itself insisted on including some aspects that he believed were over-engineered, such as the increased thickness of the concrete and the use of secure keyless entry systems.
School principal Kim Sloane said she couldn’t provide comment.
Newell said his school is among those in limbo with the ministry telling him it’s trying to find a “cost-effective solution”.
The 14-18 new classrooms would have been one of up to four new buildings built at the school over the next 15 years. Classes at the school are still being held in leaking and unsafe buildings with some having been built in the 1950s, Newell said.
“The longer we wait, the dearer and dearer things get,” he said.
Principal Mike Hart said plans to build new art, music and technology classrooms have been paused subject to costs.
The classrooms would’ve been the second phase of a major build with 11 prefabricated classrooms earlier being replaced by a new block containing a library and administration block.
While happy with the work already done, Hart hopes the six new classrooms will also be built because the existing rooms are very tired and reaching the end of their life.
Coleman said plans to pause the building of a new classroom, library, staff room and canteen are just the latest in a series of builds halted at the school.
Over time, the scale of the rebuild has been continually scaled back.
Coleman said the ministry’s communication hasn’t been “as clear as it needed to be”.
That’s left the school without money to replace or renovate a host of buildings that are below “an acceptable standard”, he said.
Principal Pauline Simpson said the original plan for a new hall and four classrooms has now been cut back to delivering just two new classrooms.
The school is now discussing the new designs with the ministry, which has apologised for the “considerable delay”.
However, “we do not currently have a satisfactory resolution”, Simpson said.
Hornby HS didn’t provide comment.
However principal Iain Murray has previously called cuts to his school’s building plans “frustrating” in media reports by the Press. He said the plans for nine new classrooms had been changed to an expected two new portable classrooms this term and another two next term.
The Marlborough Schools Project involved plans to locate the Marlborough Girls’ College and Marlborough Boys’ College on one campus and move Bohally Intermediate School to another site.
However, the project has been canned and now work will be done separately at each school to upgrade them individually. Each school is now in discussion with the ministry about what they hope to have upgraded.
Marlborough Boys’ College principal John Kendal hopes this process will only take six weeks, given much of the detailed planning work that had gone into the co-location project could still be used on the separate school campuses.
Marlborough Girls’ College principal Mary-Jeanne Lynch said significant work is needed.
“Our current classrooms ... were designed for 1960s learning - students sitting quietly in rows, listening to a teacher, with no access to technology or other specialist spaces for creative, collaborative and inquiry learning. This is not how learning in 2024 works,” she said.
Acting principal Maree Patten said plans to build a new gym at her school are still on track.
“We’ve met with the ministry and we are moving forward,” she said.
Principal Ivy Ropata said his school had a $60m project being built in stages with the final two remaining blocks now being paused.
“It was just the way all of that was communicated to us, let alone the fact that it’s unlikely to go ahead” that caused “much of the frustration here”, he said.
Given the fast-paced growth in Tauranga the school’s new gym and wharenui is much needed not a “nice to have”, he said.
Scholes said his eight classroom block has been scaled back but the details are not yet clear.
Forty-three South Island co-ed principals have asked the national body to intervene.