Dr Michael Johnston: A new approach to funding school property?

It has been reported that the Minister is considering public-private partnerships to build schools. In fact, though, all school builds are effectively public-private partnerships. The Ministry always contracts private construction firms to build schools. The real issue is the nature of the contracts.

The business-as-usual approach is for the Ministry to pay for builds up front. But an alternative, used by the Key government to build eleven schools, gives Government more certainty over the cost of school builds over their lifespan.