Finance Minister Bill English has admitted the country's school buildings are in worse shape than the Government thought.
A mouldy ceiling at Northland College Photo: SUPPLIED
Mr English this morning released a 30-year infrastructure plan, saying repair costs would be considerable and the focus had to shift from new projects to managing existing infrastructure.
He said schools had an average age of 42 years and, for the first time, the Government had an assessment of every school.
"You may not be surprised to know it's told us that the worst of them are in much worse shape than we thought, and more of them in poor shape."
Primary Principals Federation past president Phil Harding told Nine to Noon there was a growing awareness there was not enough money to fix the schools.
He said there had been complaints about planned repair and refurbishment projects being scaled back.
Listen to Phil Harding on Nine to Noon