Data released by the Ministry of Education to RNZ shows 352 building projects across 305 schools around the country are on hold as they are reviewed for "value for money".
The total includes 28 projects at 22 primary and secondary schools in Otago and Southland — many of which are bulging at the seams and at least two of which are using school libraries or other buildings as classrooms while they wait for new buildings.
Projects, most in the planning or design stage, now on hold include new classrooms and some whole school blocks.
The review means some projects may not go ahead.
Whether the projects are stopped would be "considered on a case-by-case basis", the ministry said.
Minister of Education Erica Stanford said there were more projects in the pipeline than the ministry could afford to complete.
Warrington School, 20 minutes north of Dunedin, faces losing a new classroom build that was supposed to help accommodate its roll growth over the next two years.
Principal Jeff Burrow said the Ministry of Education approached the school board to build a new classroom after noticing new subdivisions and several young families in the Warrington area about two years ago.
A couple of weeks ago he was told the ministry was reviewing the project.
"That was a really good solution-based approach from the ministry but now it’s sort of like you’re left hanging," he said.
The ministry projected the school’s roll, now 52, would grow to about 70.
An enrolment scheme was put in place and Mr Burrows was told as soon as the school had 80% of the projected figure enrolled, the build would be triggered.
The school had already disestablished its library to make more teaching spaces and was hoping to bring it back after a new classroom was built.
Mr Burrow said the school was now "in sort of a little bit of a no-man’s land".
"If the forecasted number of children all arrive in the coming 18 months to two years then that puts some stress on our teaching spaces we have at the moment.
"With that space disestablished the children are missing out on that area and that resource as well."
Mr Burrow said the school and the ministry had a good partnership until recently.
He said there had been a lot of "gross under-resourcing and under-funding" in the education system.
"You can’t do everything all the time but you know if you had a list of things you’re going to start with where does education sit with this government."
He said a lot of things were up in the air.
A new classroom for the growing Clyde Primary School was also now under review.
Principal Steph Kitto, while disappointed, said she was already resigned to things not moving very fast.
In the meantime, the school had been using library space as a classroom.
Goldfields School principal Anna Harrison said by the end of the year her school would be only two pupils off its 330-pupil capacity.
The school needed two extra classrooms, both of which were now under review.
She was worried that if the classrooms were built cheaply, the cost of maintaining them would have to come out of the school’s budget in the future.
Ms Stanford, who was in Alexandra to speak to 74 educators from across Otago and Southland yesterday, told the Otago Daily Times the budget for school property had not been cut.
The issue she had inherited was the ministry had created a pipeline of projects it could not deliver on, she said.
"In the meantime ... the operational side of the ministry are having to work out ‘right, this the budget that we have left’.
"How do we prioritise the schools that are in desperate need and make sure they get what they need urgently and also, while we’re doing that value for money, make sure that we are, again, getting best value for money.
"So, repeatable design, modular classrooms, off-site builds."
The ministry, on its website, said in some instances, the reviews would happen "quickly and with little disruption".
"With others, it will become apparent early in the process that cost efficiencies will need to be made and these projects will be paused while the best solution is identified."
In some cases, projects would be altered to be more efficient, by "using simpler designs and materials that [the ministry has] used before, instead of starting from scratch" or by "refurbishing existing buildings rather than building new and driving better value-for-money solutions for other facilities needed by schools, such as gyms, libraries, and halls". — additional reporting RNZ
