Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 May 2024
296. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Education if she will explain the reasoning behind the reduction of the money allocated for the schoolbook scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22516/24]
View answerIn 2024 over €47 million was allocated to continue implementation of the schoolbooks scheme at primary level. On 8 May I announced details of year 2 of the Primary Schoolbooks Scheme which provides at a minimum free schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks to pupils in recognised primary and special schools. More than 563,000 pupils enrolled in approximately 3,230 primary schools, including over 130 special schools will continue to benefit from this scheme.
Revised guidance for the 2024/25 school year was published on my Department’s website, at www.gov.ie/schoolbookschemes, and has issued to schools.
As the scheme is now implemented in every recognised primary and special school it is expected that schools have used the funding provided in the 2023/24 school year to purchase stocks of schoolbooks and other classroom resources. Many of these items are now available to schools for reuse in the 2024/25 school year and in future school years. The funding allocated to the scheme in the 2024/25 school year takes account of this.
Schools will receive €80 per pupil enrolled as of September 2023. Special schools that have students enrolled in Junior Cycle programmes will receive funding at the Junior Cycle per capita rate of €309 per student set out under the new Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme in respect of these students.
As part of the ongoing evaluation of the scheme, all schools will be asked to provide data on their expenditure in order to inform the guidance, implementation, costs and efficiency of the scheme for future years.
