Following court battles and power cuts, the Gauteng Department of Education is reviewing its decentralised funding model, arguing that school governing bodies lack the financial expertise to manage soaring municipal bills.

The Gauteng Department of Education will review the current model allowing school governing bodies (SGBs) to independently determine how their budgets will be spent in a bid to cut down on schools' municipal debt and avoid them being left in the dark.

This move was announced by education MEC Lebogang Maile in a media briefing at Lyndhurst Primary School on Sunday, 17 May 2026, following a Pretoria High Court judgment earlier this month ordering the Tshwane Municipality to restore electricity supply to all schools that had been cut off for nonpayment.

By the end of March Gauteng schools had accumulated municipal debt of up to R583.9-million over 60 days. The City of Johannesburg accounts for the lion's share of this at R390.7-million, followed by the City of Ekurhuleni (R75.14-million) and the City of Tshwane (R51.7-million). Gauteng schools also owe Eskom a debt of R6.32 million.

As a result of unpaid debt, schools across the province have faced disruptions to electricity and water supplies.

The debt is caused by factors such as unpaid historical debt, municipalities overcharging schools, weak systems for disputing incorrect bills, and "misalignment" between annual increases in municipal tariffs and the annual incremental allocations provided to schools by...