Funding for vandalism repairs on school property
School boards are responsible for reducing and repairing vandalism. We provide operational funding to help with the cost of repairs.
What vandalism funding is for
Vandalism is wilful damage to, or loss of, any part of the school site, buildings or other facilities. It doesn’t include normal wear and tear.
You can use vandalism funding to repair things like:
- arson damage under $2,500 (damage over $2,500 is covered under the school building insurance funding programme)
- deliberately broken windows or etching on windows
- damage to walls and buildings from graffiti, but only the area with the graffiti
- damage to a CCTV camera, but only if it's attached to a building (new CCTV cameras are funded with 5YA funding)
- damage to fences
- stolen spouting
- damage to trees that are part of the school site
- damage to NZSPA-funded playgrounds or artificial turf
- water damage from taps being deliberately left on
- damage to school property by hit-and-run drivers.
Using funding for repairs
You can only use the funding to repair Crown-owned buildings and facilities. You must carry out repair work immediately.
We don't fund a caretaker’s time for painting over or cleaning off graffiti, or fixing other damage.
If you’re not sure how your damage should be funded, contact your regional property team.
How we calculate vandalism funding
Vandalism funding is based on:
- the number of pupils in your school
- the risk of vandalism in your area (determined by previous vandalism costs)
- an upper limit of liability for your board.
Payments are made quarterly through the operational grant payment process.
2026 funding (GST inclusive)
| Vandalism risk category | Funding rate per student (mid-point) | Funding rate upper limit (per student) |
| A - Low risk | $3.53 | $7.06 |
| B – Medium risk | $10.60 | $14.13 |
| C – High risk | $17.69 | $21.24 |
| D – Critical risk | $24.74 | $28.23 |
| E – Extreme risk | $28.27 | $28.30 |
You can find the risk category for your school in Pourato. We fund up to the mid-point for each risk category.
Pourato – Education Applications & Online Systemsopen_in_new
Apply for a funding top-up
If your vandalism costs go over your upper limit, you can apply for top-up funding. You can work out how much additional funding you can claim with our top-up calculator.
The calculator will work out:
- total funding – our contribution plus your contribution to meet the upper limit
- vandalism expenses – the total of all vandalism invoices
- top-up funding – the amount you can claim reimbursement for over the upper limit.
We consider top-up claims throughout the year. You can either:
- make a claim for 1 major vandalism event, or
- add them up and make 1 claim per year.
We can't guarantee we’ll approve reimbursements in all cases.
Major vandalism events
If there's a major vandalism event at your school and the repair costs will be well over your upper limit, you can apply to us for funding immediately after the event.
You need to provide:
- copies of invoices to fix the damage (including GST)
- an estimate of the costs if the damage isn't yet fixed
- a detailed police report
- your account of the event, including any relevant background information
- the top-up calculator spreadsheet with your school costs.
We’ll meet the extra costs if either:
- the cost of that 1 event is above your upper limit, or
- the cost of that event, combined with vandalism expenses you've already had to pay during the year, will put you over the upper limit.
Apply for a funding reassessment
Your risk assessment category can be reassessed if you’ve had to apply for top-up funding often. You can apply for your risk assessment category to be reassessed if you've:
- experienced a general increase in vandalism, and
- exceeded your vandalism funding for 3 consecutive years.
You’ll need to show evidence of why your school needs more funding. Contact your regional property team to apply.