Property Management


To print from the document below: highlight the passages you want and choose 'print selection' in your print dialogue box.

Page index:
Policy development and planning
School Charter
10 Year Property Plan
Disaster Recovery
Core Housing
Housing
Non-core Housing
Caretakers housing
Setting the rent
Sector Forums
Other sources of information

Policy development and planning

Managing school property can be challenging and is not something most principals have received training on. Many express concerns about the stress involved and the amount of time it takes to oversee even basic maintenance.

Good forward planning can help alleviate stress at times when things go wrong. Major maintenance, buildings on the move, fires and other disasters are not the time to be wondering how to cope and what to do next. Planning will not answer all the questions, but at least it will provide a place to start.

Boards of trustees are responsible for property management and the implementation of school property programmes. However, much of the daily operational and administrative tasks can be delegated to other staff such as the caretaker or administrative staff.

School Charter

All school Boards are required to have a Charter. The Charter establishes the aims, objectives and targets of the school to give effect to the national education guidelines and the Board's priorities. The Charter has effect as an undertaking by the Board to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the school is managed, organised, conducted, and administered to meet the purposes set out in the Charter. The charter ensures a degree of continuity and encourages cost-effective decision-making.

10 Year Property Plan

A 10-Year Property Plan (10YPP) ensures that Boards take a long-term systematic approach to planning for a school’s capital and maintenance requirements. It is used to identify projects that need to be funded by a schools budget through their 5-Year Agreement (5YA) and regular annual funding programmes. A 10YPP enables an accurate schedule of maintenance work (some of which is cyclical and needs to be re-programmed every few years) and capital funding that is used to create or improve school assets.

Boards must have an approved 10YPP which requires review every five years in line with the school’s new 5YA. The Ministry must be notified of any changes to the plan.

Disaster Recovery

What will your school do following a fire, flood or other disaster? Up to date detailed records will not replace years of work but they will help when replacing equipment and administrative records. Keep regular computer backups offsite and ensure that the inventory of equipment and resources is accurate.

How to keep schools safe when not occupied such as the weekends and during the holidays? About 70 per cent of all fires in schools are arson related and happen mostly during weekends, holidays and one week either side of holidays. Use these tips to improve safety and reduce loss:

  • ensure fire/security alarms are reliably inspected and maintained
  • consider introducing random patrols to look for evidence of unauthorised activity and to act as a deterrent (advise the Police on any issues)
  • make sure all combustibles are removed from around the site (regularly remove any dry vegetation accumulating over holidays)
  • remove any rubbish bins located close to the building (ideal bonfires)
  • check security lighting systems are fully operational (check at night so you can identify any blind spots, etc.)
  • remove any unnecessary combustible material (paintings, mobiles etc) from inside buildings
  • ask teachers to take home any valuable resource material
  • make sure all electrical equipment is turned off at the wall plug
  • check all intruder alarm detector heads are unobstructed
  • close and lock all internal doors
  • ensure all windows and external doors are secure and locked
  • share all this information with all staff members.

Of all the above tips, keeping rubbish bins away from school buildings is the most critical. A recent analysis of school fires shows that most have happened where rubbish bins, filled with combustibles by intruders, have been used as an accelerant.

Installing a dual intruder and smoke detection alarm system in high-risk areas is a proven safeguard for both detecting unlawful entry and raising the alarm should the intruder start a fire. If your school does not have such a dual system it should consider including one in its10-Year Property Plan.

Housing

There are two types of school housing – for teachers and caretakers. Teacher housing is classified as either core or non-core.

Core Housing

Core housing meets the following criteria:

  • it is necessary to provide housing within a reasonable travelling distance of the school; and
  • the host schools are considered hard-to-staff; and
  • the property is a principal's house on or adjacent to a school site.

The majority of core houses are in rural areas and are necessary for recruitment where available housing is a problem. The Ministry has progressively transferred the ownership of core houses to Boards who then assume responsibility for collecting rents, paying rates, arranging insurance, the maintenance and capital upgrades. The Board retains the rental income and the transfer of core housing is seen as being financially beneficial for most schools.

Non-core Housing

Non-core houses are those that do not meet the core housing criteria as outlined above. These houses are all managed centrally, through the Ministry’s national housing contractor. The national housing contractor is responsible for all property management functions from tenancy management to arranging and paying maintenance and rates.

Schools are encouraged to release non-core houses for disposal, especially since 30% are either privately tenanted or vacant at any one time. Schools that do release these houses for disposal will receive 50% of the net proceeds (“net” means after costs) – 40% of the estimated value will be paid when the house(s) is assigned for disposal with the wash-up of the remaining 10% paid when the property is sold which can take 2-3 years. These proceeds must be spent on:

  • capital works to the school’s land and buildings (this is in addition to and not the expense of the schools other capital funding entitlements such as 5YA); and/or
  • capital expenditure on information communication technology (ICT) items; and/or
  • an investment with the interest earned used for school operational objectives.

NB: The proceeds cannot be directly used to meet school operating costs.

Caretakers housing

These houses are found mainly in secondary schools. Boards continue to undertake all aspects of tenancy management for caretaker houses, as well as arrange general routine maintenance. Boards receive maintenance funding for this, plus rates, as part of their operations grant. Urgent capital works are processed by way of making application through the Ministry. Boards are not required to arrange or pay for insurance on caretaker houses.

Setting the rent

The Ministry conducts an annual rent review of school houses which will reflect the condition and location of each house. This review process only relates to non-core teacher houses and does not include caretaker houses. Boards are responsible for reviewing the rentals of their core houses annually.

Setting rentals nationally for teacher and principal tenants ensures teacher rentals are fair to the tenant and the Board. In addition, Boards need to be charging the correct rental rate in order to maintain an adequate cash flow for managing their houses.

Sector Forums

These forums are held once a term in the Northern, Central North, Central South and Southern Ministry of Education Regions. The forums provide an opportunity for sector representatives and the Ministry to exchange information so that all parties are better informed both at a national and local level. The agenda is set by both the sector and the Ministry and much of the new policy development and initiatives taken over recent years have been informed by discussion at the forums.

Ministry representation is provided by national and local office managers while the sector groups mainly comprise representatives of the NZ Educational Institute NZ School Trustees' Association, NZ Post Primary Teachers Association, Te Runanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa, NZ School Executive Officers' Association, Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools and various principals' associations.

If you have an issue about property policies and processes that you want to discuss, contact your sector representative and ask them to raise it at the next forum. Also ask your representative what was discussed at the forum once it’s been held. School specific issues should be taken up with the nearest Ministry local office.

The dates and locations for forums are advertised in the Education Gazette.

Other sources of information

All the above information and more is contained in the Ministry’s Property Management Handbook at www.minedu.govt.nz. It is the prime, “one-stop” source of property related information for boards and principals.