The government has committed $56.6 million to upgrade facilities at six schools, in what ministers say is a decisive step to address long-standing infrastructure issues in the education system.
Education Minister Erica Stanford and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop announced the funding, which forms part of a broader $2 billion investment in school infrastructure through Budgets 2024 and 2025.
Stanford said the upgrades would deliver 52 new teaching spaces across the country, stressing the scale of the investment and the need to modernise school facilities.
The schools to be redeveloped were Kerikeri High School in Northland, which will receive 12 replacement classrooms; Pinehill School in Browns Bay, Auckland, with 3 replacement classrooms; Hutt Intermediate in Wellington, with 14 replacement classrooms; Natone Park School in Wellington, which will get 7 replacement classrooms and new administrative space; Ashburton Intermediate in Canterbury, with 8 replacement classrooms; and Maruawai College in Southland, which will receive 8 replacement specialist classrooms.
Construction is expected to begin within the next six months, Bishop confirmed, signalling a more urgent approach to delivery.
Stanford said the government inherited a “school property system nearing crisis,” pointing to delays and costly planning under the previous approach.
“Schools were promised new projects but were left waiting, often for years, on unfunded, bespoke, expensive plans,” she said.
Bishop added that funding for school maintenance had been increased by $880 million across the 2024 and 2025 budgets, noting that this more than doubled the increases seen over the previous six years combined.
He also said the government had “significantly reduced” classroom construction costs by relying more on offsite building methods and standardised, repeatable designs.
In 2025, a total of 583 classrooms were built, a 31% increase compared to 2023. This reflects what ministers describe as a more efficient and results-focused approach to school infrastructure delivery.