About board funding

Board funding is money the school board has received from sources like fundraising, grants from trusts and community groups, and bequests. It can also include surplus operational funding.

School boards must apply to us for consent before using board funds to upgrade, build or buy property for their school. This is required under the Education and Training Act 2020.

Section 160, Education and Training Act 2020 — New Zealand Legislation

Property ownership

When board funds are used on a property project, the board may own some or all of the new property. The board must record this ownership on its balance sheet and is responsible for the ongoing maintenance.

For upgrades of property owned by us, we may agree to accept board-funded works as a donation. In these cases, the board will not own any of the property it funded work for.

Apply for consent

To apply to use board or community funding for a property project, complete the following application form and send it to your property advisor.

If we approve your request, we will send you a confirmation letter. You will need to show that approval letter to the auditor during the annual audit of your board's financial accounts.

Criteria for consent

We will consider these 4 criteria when reviewing your application for approval:

1. Education benefits – the proposed project will help the school deliver educational benefits.
2. Network considerations – the impact the proposed project will have on the school network.
3. Financial status – the proposed project will be funded in a financially responsible and sustainable way.
4. Property standards – the proposed project meets our design and health and safety standards.

The application form has more information about the criteria.

Who pays for ongoing costs

When you build or buy something with board funds, you must pay for all the ongoing costs. That includes:

• maintenance
• capital upgrades
• insurance
• operational costs.

If you shared building costs or share ownership with us and/or the community, ongoing costs must also be shared based on how much each party owns.

If the property is owned by the board or the community, your board should have an agreement in place with the community to share these costs.

Change ownership of a board-owned building to us

Boards can ask us to consider taking ownership of a partially or fully board-owned building.

If your board wants to change property ownership to us, talk to your property advisor.

Regional offices

If we agree to taking ownership, your board must agree and must record that agreement in writing.

If you want to sell or remove board or community-owned property

A school board may be able to sell or dispose of property they are no longer using. Any disposal must go through the Crown disposal process.

Read how to put surplus property into the Crown disposal process.

Surplus school property