School property public-private partnerships

The National-led Government is preparing a 'stage two' business case to consider proceeding with public-private partnerships (PPP) for new school property.

Under a PPP, a private sector partner would be responsible for financing, building, managing, and maintaining the property for a set term. This means the school and its board could focus more on teaching and learning, without the added responsibility of managing the property.

Boards of trustees and school leadership are currently forced to devote a lot of time to property issues, many of which require specialist expertise. For example, 145 schools have been identified as having leaky buildings, with a total cost of repairs of hundreds of millions of dollars. Under a PPP, the private-sector partner would carry this risk and have to fix it quickly or pay a penalty.

The stage two business case will include a decision on specific schools.