Furniture and equipment for integrated schools

Information about the grants and funding available, what they are for, and how to access them.

Boards are responsible for the financial governance of their schools and must use and report the furniture and equipment grant and new square metres funding appropriately. Their school’s projects must meet the requirements of the new square metres funding, and proprietors must lead the claims process. 

• Key information
• Annual furniture and equipment
• New square metres furniture and equipment
• All-of-government (AoG) procurement
• Further information

Key funding information

What it is: an annual furniture and equipment grant, and new square metres furniture and equipment funding.

What it is for: replace and modernise existing furniture, provide furniture and equipment for new spaces (roll growth teaching spaces and new schools).

Key dates: the annual grant is paid on 1 July. New square metres funding is paid on receipt of invoice. 

Annual furniture and equipment grant

Purchasing furniture

The Board must:

• own the equipment
• record it in the school accounting system
• be responsible for insuring it as part of their contents insurance.

Calculating annual furniture and equipment funding

Budget 2022 significantly increased the funding for schools to modernise and replace their furniture and equipment. From the following annual grant onwards, all state-integrated schools will receive funding for furniture and equipment at increased rates compared with previous years.

Annual furniture and equipment is calculated as a fixed percentage between 10.6% and 13.3% of the proprietor’s Policy One budget. The percentage amount depends on the school type.

Policy One funding for capital work at integrated schools

Funding rates for different types of schools

New square metres furniture and equipment

The Ministry provides boards of state-integrated schools with furniture and equipment funding for eligible new square metres up to their School Property Guide (SPG) entitlement. New square metres over the SPG entitlement don’t qualify for this funding.

The funding for new square metres is based on net square metres. It doesn't include:

• corridors
• circulation space
• toilets, and so on.

Proprietors submit a claim, and the Ministry pays the funding to the board. The funding is to furnish new rooms with furniture and equipment appropriate for the room’s use.

Areas that don't qualify

New square metre projects that don't qualify for furniture and equipment funding are those that:

• provide facilities for the first time at a school within existing floor space, such as a building conversion
• build new facilities with annual furniture and equipment funding — in this case, the annual furniture and equipment rate applies.

Rates for new square metre funding

The rates for new square metre funding for furniture and equipment are:

• regular teaching space net area rate — $160 per square metre.
• specialist teaching space net area rate — $450 per square metre.

These rates increased for projects from July 2022.

The specialist net area rate is based on an average of all types of teaching spaces. Fitting out some spaces, such as a hard materials workshop, might cost more than this rate but the costs will average out over time.

Accessing the funding

Once a construction contract is let, the proprietor prepares a Furniture and equipment calculation template and sends it to the Ministry for checking.

When the template has been accepted, the proprietor asks the school to prepare an invoice for the proprietor to send to the Ministry for payment.

When the invoice is received, funds are paid directly to the schools' bank account.

The table below sets out the steps for calculating and claiming funding for a project which is building new square metres.

All-of-government (AoG) procurement for schools

Boards may be able to make significant savings when purchasing equipment for their schools through the all-of-government contracts.

New Zealand Government Procurement website(external link)

Last reviewed: 21 October 2022 Has this been useful? Give us your feedback