Text size

School funds cut to pay for U-turn by Quinn

February 23, 2012

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has been accused of robbing Peter to pay Paul after cutting budgets for all primary schools in order to fund a U-turn on teacher cuts in the most disadvantaged schools.

He bowed to pressure for a U-turn on one of the most harshly criticised Budget 2012 cutbacks by allowing over 130 disadvantaged primary schools to keep 235 extra teachers.

However, every primary school in the country will have a smaller budget this year in order to fund the €2.8m reversal.

It will mean no cuts to urban primary schools in his department’s Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (Deis) programme.

The change gives a full reprieve to 25 schools due to have lost at least three teachers they kept from disadvantage schemes before Deis was set up in 2005. A Department of Education review found that another 107 would have lost up to two teachers from pre-Deis schemes.

However, the axe will still fall on the remainder of the 428 posts which were due to have been cut at 33 primary and 163 second-level schools.

The minister had already signalled that any U-turn would be funded from elsewhere in the schools’ budget, and he is bringing forward the phased cut in capitation funding for all 3,200 primary schools. Instead of a 2% cut this year and a similar reduction next year, a 3.5% cut is being imposed in 2012.

This will see the rate payable for running costs cut further, from €183 for every pupil to €178. It means an additional cut of €750 to the already over €1,000 being withdrawn from the annual budget of an average 150-pupil primary school.

The Irish Primary Principals Network called it a “zero-sum game”, claiming another cut would leave many schools unable to pay for basics like lighting and heating. “This comes as hard-pressed families, many of them hit by job losses, are struggling to make voluntary contributions to help cover schools’ running costs,” said IPPN director Seán Cottrell.

A Department of Education spokesperson said 92% of the €3.08bn primary school budget goes on pay and pensions and 6% on capitation grants, so there was limited scope for alternative savings.

Mr Quinn admitted making a mistake in the budget and said he was reversing the cuts in some disadvantaged schools after analysing the likely impact. In a further concession to the most disadvantaged primary schools, they will be given additional learning support staff to help pupils in reading and maths.

The minister has also made allowances for small primary schools due to lose a teacher in September if they can show they would have increased pupil numbers. The department found that 73 schools were due to have been affected by staffing changes for schools with five teachers or less.

Only a few are likely to benefit from the widened appeal system but the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation welcomed the move. It said it would have been nonsense for schools to lose a teacher this year, only to regain it next year.

IRISH EXAMINER