Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 April 2019
200. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the allocation for employing ancillary staff in ETB schools such as administration staff and caretaking staff is the same irrespective of the size of the school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15426/19]
View answerEach Educational Training Board (ETB) receive an administration and maintenance staffing allocation from my Department to support individual ETB schools, colleges, head office and other centres of education. It is the responsibility of each ETB to recruit and manage staffing levels within this allocation.
I am pleased to advise the Deputy that for ETB schools with enrolments in excess of 700 pupils I have recently increased the funding available for administrative posts from 1 WTE to 2 WTE with immediate effect. There are 54 ETB schools who have enrolments in excess of 700 pupils. Of these 32 ETB schools will see their administrative supports increase to 2 WTEs - the remaining schools already have a minimum of 2 WTEs. These schools also have funding for 1 WTE Caretaking post.
However, it should be noted that while my Department allocates non-teaching staffing supports in accordance with the criteria outlined above, it is a matter for each ETB to decide where they allocate these supports according to the needs of their organization.
When allocating non-teaching staff to ETBs in respect of their schools, my Department is guided by the following criteria: Schools with enrolments of 249 or less pupils are allocated a 0.5 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) Administrative and Caretaking posts;
- Schools with enrolments of between 250 and 699 pupils are allocated a 1 WTE Administrative and Caretaking posts;
- Schools with enrolments of 250 or more are allocated 1 WTE caretaking post and
- In respect of Cleaning supports, each school is allocated 4.5 hours per annum per pupil up to a maximum of 2028 hours per annum, with a minimum allocation of 520 hours per annum
Overall I acknowledge the need to improve non-teaching supports to the education sector including for ETBs but I must be prudent in the context of ongoing budgetary pressures and prioritise where it is not possible to do everything that I would like to do in the education sector in any one year.
