Deirdre Clune
Ceist:1327 Ms Clune asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will reconsider the provision of funding for a school (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2462/02]
Written Answers. - Schools Funding.
My Department provides funding towards the cost of secretarial and caretaking services in the school referred to by the Deputy under a 1978-79 scheme for the employment of school secretaries in primary and secondary schools and caretakers in primary schools. Under this scheme, the school employs a full time secretary and a full time caretaker, while my Department reimburses the school authorities in respect of the salaries of the people in question. While these posts are fully funded by my Department, the secretaries and caretakers involved are employees of the individual school authorities.
This scheme is being phased out as posts become vacant and no new posts are being created. It has been superseded in the PESP agreement of 1992 by a more extensive grant scheme which is now referred to as the ancillary services grant. The grant provides additional funding for primary schools towards the cost of secretarial and caretaking services. However, schools which already have the services of a full-time secretary or caretaker employed under my Department's 1978-79 scheme are not currently eligible for additional funding from the grant as the main purpose of the grant is to provide funding to schools that do not otherwise have secretarial and caretaking provision in place.
In line with a PPF commitment to mainstream certain essential services provided under community employment schemes, I recently secured the transfer of 58,407,951 per annum to my Department on a phased basis between 2001 and 2003, as the FÁS school-based community employment schemes come to an end. The availability of this funding has enabled me to make significant progress in relation to the provision of secretarial and caretaking services to primary schools.
I am increasing the grant for caretakers and secretaries from 50.79 per pupil per annum to 126.98 per pupil over this school year and the next. With effect from September 2001, the grant has been increased from 50.79 to 76.18 per pupil. This has been further increased to 101.58 per pupil with effect from January 2002. As a result, the minimum grant to be paid to schools with 60 pupils or less has been increased from 3,047.37 to 6,094.74, while schools with 500 pupils or more will increase from 25,394.76 to 50,789.52 per annum. I am setting aside 2,539,476 to respond to the particular difficulties which may be experienced by some schools.
The Deputy will also be aware that I recently agreed with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and FÁS that all school based CE participants with a legitimate expectation of up to three years participation in a school based CE scheme will be facilitated to complete their full term. This adjustment to the phasing out of CE schemes in schools means that certain CE participants may be entitled to continue working on CE in schools up to and including 2004 depending on their individual circumstances and entitlements under CE. This adjustment should also ensure that the withdrawal of CE schemes takes place on a more gradual basis and therefore reduce the immediate impact on schools.