Vol. 553 No. 6
109 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science if it is intended to allocate additional funding to schools to enable them to fully implement the provisions of the Education Welfare Act, 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14737/02]
Funding of schools at both primary and second level is structured on the basis of capitation grants with additional grants towards services such as caretaking and secretarial.
At primary level, schools' running costs have been traditionally met by my Department's scheme of capitation grants. These grants are intended to contribute towards the general operating costs of primary schools.
This Government places a high priority on increasing funding to schools. Recent developments include, at primary level, significant improvement in the level of capitation grants. The standard rate of capitation grant for primary schools has been increased from €57.14 per pupil in 1997 to €105.00 per pupil in this school year. In addition, the standard rate will be increased to €111.58 in respect of the 2002-03 school year.
At post-primary level, schools have also benefited from increases in the standard per capita grant. The grant has been increased from €224.74 per pupil in 1997 to €256.49 from September last. The grant will be further increased by €10 for the next school year and that will bring the grant to €266.49. For a school with 500 pupils this amounts to an extra €20,875 per annum and a total capitation grant of €133,245 towards general expenses. An additional per capita grant of €38.09 per pupil is paid to disadvantaged schools bringing the total grant in the case of such a school with 500 pupils to €152,290. Schools are afforded considerable flexibility in the use of these resources to cater for the needs of their pupils. In my view this is, in general, a preferable approach to putting in place grants for specific initiatives.
