Written Answers. - Capitation Grants.
Helen Keogh
Question:
136
Ms Keogh
asked the
Minister for Education
the reasons for the inequitable treatment of schools in terms of the allocation of capitation grants, particularly between voluntary secondary schools and vocational schools and primary and secondary schools; and the plans, if any, she has regarding this obvious unjustified and inequitable treatment.
[10949/95]
The Deputy will be aware that I recently published a survey of unit costs of first and second level schools which had been commissioned by my Department. The survey was carried out by external consultants and the data related to the school year 1988-89.
The survey assembled a considerable body of factual data on the recurrent expenditures of primary and second-level schools and presented detailed analysis of this data under various headings. It illustrated graphically the high level of variation from school to school in per pupil expenditures for overall expenditure and for expenditure under individual cost headings.
Any conclusions drawn from the study must take into account that it deals with expenditure for one year only; there are differences in the scope of activities provided, i.e. in the ranges and types of subjects offered in the different sectors. Voluntary secondary schools concentrate traditionally on the provision of academic subjects while the vocational schools and community and comprehensive schools provide a higher proportion of technical-vocational subjects which are more expensive to teach; in the vocational schools it was not possible to allocate costs precisely between general second level programmes and the balance of vocational education committee educational schemes. As a result, the data on unit costs per whole-time general post-primary pupil for vocational schools may overestimate some expenditures; some cost items are not reported consistently because they are directly incurred by schools in some sectors and not in others.
With these reservations, I accept that the study indicates some disparity of funding as between the voluntary secondary schools and the other school types.
The main element in the disparity is the pay costs which were being met at school level. In that regard, improvements in the funding of primary and second level schools have continued since the survey was carried out. These improvements address both the overall funding needs and the indications in the study of some disparity of funding as between the voluntary secondary schools and the other school types, particularly in respect of pay costs other than teacher pay.
At primary level the improvements include:
(a) The capitation grant for primary schools has been increased by 51 per cent since the 1988-89 school year. The capitation grant is currently £40, supplemented by an additional grant of £25 for schools in disadvantaged areas.
(b) There has been a major expansion in the number of primary schools designated as disadvantaged and which are in receipt of the additional capitation grant of £25 per pupil. A total of 310 schools and approximately 82,000 pupils are in receipt of this additional funding from September 1994 as compared with 156 schools with 46,000 pupils in 1988-89.
(c) An additional £1.5 million is being provided in 1995 for the scheme of additional capitation grants covering caretaking and clerical services in primary schools. This increase allows for the full-year cost of improvements made in 1994 which extended grant assistance to
—schools with enrolments in excess of 350 pupils
—an additional 15 schools designated as disadvantaged
—special schools with eight teachers or more.
The qualifying enrolment will be further reduced this year with a view to grant aiding up to 200 additional schools. The increased funding will also enable improvements to be made in the position of large schools that currently have shared secretarial and caretaking services only.
At second level the improvements include:
(a) Theper capita grant towards the recurrent costs of voluntary secondary schools has been increased by 18 per cent to £165 since 1988-89. Since 1 January 1994, schools designated as disadvantaged are now in receipt of an additional capitation grant of £15 per pupil. The non-pay budgets of the vocational education committees and the budgets of the community and comprehensive schools have also been increased over this period.
(b) All voluntary secondary schools with an enrolment in excess of 200 pupils are being grant-aided at the rate of £25 per student, subject to a maximum of £8,750 per annum, towards the cost of secretarial services where such schools are not already in receipt of clerical assistance under my Department's 1977 scheme. From September 1994, all voluntary secondary schools with an enrolment in excess of 200 pupils receive aper capita grant of £25, subject to a maximum of £8,750, towards the cost of employing a caretaker.
(c) The annual budgets of each community and comprehensive school include a provision to enable them to employ at least one caretaker and one secretary on a full-time basis and the majority of schools with an enrolment in excess of 500 pupils are provided with funds to employ a second caretaker and part-time secretarial assistance of up to 20 hours per week.
(d) The financial allocations to the vocational education committees include a provision to enable them to provide a level of caretaking and clerical services for their schools. All vocational schools with an enrolment in excess of 200 students have some secretarial and caretaking facilities. From September 1994, all vocational schools with an enrolment in excess of 273 pupils have a minimum of one full-time equivalent of both a caretaker and school secretary.
(e) Over £600,000 has been provided in 1995 for the expansion of the scheme of grants for secretaries and caretakers at second level to schools with fewer than 200 pupils. The increased funding will also enable improvements to be made in the position of large schools that currently have shared secretarial and caretaking services only.
The White Paper on Education outlines the intention that, in the future, the funding of all primary schools will be put on the same basis, with additional funding for schools designated as disadvantaged. At second level, the Government is committed to achieving a 90 per cent completion rate at senior cycle by the year 2000. The White Paper acknowledges that expenditure on second level education, in order to meet the projected increase in participation rates, is a necessary investment in social and economic well-being.
