Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 June 2004
169 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Education and Science when he plans to redress the funding gap between secondary and community schools; if he will give a firm commitment that the anomalies will be addressed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16162/04]
View answerThe funding arrangements for voluntary secondary schools reflect the sectoral division of our second level system and is structured mainly on the basis of capitation grants, with additional grants for secretarial and caretaking services. There have been significant improvements in the level of funding for voluntary secondary schools. With effect from January last, the standard per capita grant now amounts to €274 per pupil as against the rate of €224.74 that applied in 1997. For disadvantaged schools, the increase has brought the per capita grant to €312 per pupil.
In addition, secondary schools have benefited under the school services support initiative. The initial grant of €25 per pupil, introduced for second level schools in September 2000, was increased to €89 per pupil from September 2002 and was further increased by €10 per pupil from January 2003 to €99 per pupil. In the case of voluntary secondary schools, the grant has been increased by a further €32, bringing the grant for such schools to €131 from January last. This per capita grant is in addition to a range of equalisation grants of up to some €15,500 per school per annum that were also approved for voluntary secondary schools. For a secondary school with 500 pupils, this amounts to additional equalisation funding of more than €30,000 per annum and overall additional support services funding of more than €80,000 per annum. A measure of the increase in overall funding for secondary schools is that by comparison with 1997, a secondary school with 500 pupils now receives extra annual funding of more than €105,000 per annum.
I am committed to improving further the funding position of voluntary secondary schools in light of available resources and to addressing the issue of equity raised by voluntary secondary schools. At a time of increased financial constraints, the further significant increases in the funding of voluntary secondary schools is a clear demonstration of my commitment to prioritise available resources to address the needs of schools.
