What vandalism funding is for

Vandalism is wilful damage to or loss of any part of the school site, buildings or other facilities, excluding normal wear and tear.

You can use vandalism funding to repair things like:

• arson damage under $2,500 (damage over $2,500 is covered under the school building insurance funding programme)
• deliberately broken windows or etching on windows
• damage to walls and buildings from graffiti, but only the area with the graffiti
• damage to a CCTV camera, but only if it's attached to a building (new CCTV cameras are funded with 5YA funding)
• damage to fences
• stolen spouting
• damage to trees that are part of the school site
• damage to a Ministry-funded playgrounds or artificial turf
• water damage from taps being deliberately left on
• damage to school property by hit-and-run drivers.

Using funding for repairs

You can only use the funding to repair buildings and facilities that we own. You must carry out repair work immediately.

We do not fund a caretaker’s time for painting over/cleaning off graffiti or fixing other damage.

If you are not sure how your damage should be funded, contact your regional property team.

Property staff contacts

How we calculate vandalism funding

Vandalism funding is based on:

• the number of pupils in your school
• the risk of vandalism in your area (determined by previous vandalism costs)
• an upper limit of liability for your board.

Payments are made quarterly through the operational grant payment processes.

Risk categories

The risk category for your school is in Pourato. We fund up to the mid-point for each risk category.

Pourato

Apply for a funding top-up

If your vandalism costs go over your upper limit, you can apply for top-up funding. You can work out how much additional funding you can claim with our top-up calculator.

The calculator will work out:

• total funding — our contribution plus your contribution to meet the upper limit
• vandalism expenses — the total of all vandalism invoices
• top-up funding — the amount you can claim reimbursement for over the upper limit.

We consider top-up claims throughout the year. You can either:

• make a claim for 1 major vandalism event, or
• add them up and make 1 claim per year — you'll need to submit this claim by mid-June for reimbursement that year.

We can't guarantee we will approve reimbursements in all cases.

Major vandalism events

If there's a major vandalism event at your school and the repair costs will be well over your upper limit, you can apply to us for funding immediately after the event.

You need to provide:

• copies of invoices to fix the damage (including GST)
• an estimate of the costs if the damage isn't yet fixed
• a detailed police report
• your account of the event, including any relevant background information
• the top-up calculator spreadsheet with your school costs.

We will meet the extra costs if either:

• the cost of that 1 event is above your upper limit, or
• the cost of that event, combined with vandalism expenses you've already had to pay during the year, will put you over the upper limit.

Apply for a funding reassessment

Your risk assessment category can be reassessed if you have applied for top-up funding often. You can apply for your risk assessment category to be reassessed if you've:

• experienced a general increase in vandalism, and
• exceeded your vandalism funding for 3 consecutive years.

You will need to show evidence of why your school needs more funding. Contact your regional office to apply.

Regional offices