The total annual amount paid in respect of fee charging secondary schools for each of the past five years amounted to €66 million in 1999, €69 million in 2000, €72 million in 2001, €77.5 million in 2002 and an estimated €83.5 million in 2003. Of this sum, almost 90% relates to salaries and allowances of teachers. The balance includes the Protestant block grant and funding towards support services such as secretarial and caretaking services. Grants were issued in 2002 and 2003 for supervision arrangements.
The payment of teacher salaries is part of a complex scheme of funding for fee charging schools which has traditionally sought to balance considerations of equity, pragmatism and State support for minority religions. Teachers in fee charging schools, irrespective of the denominational ethoi of those schools, are paid by the State. This may well reflect a long standing pragmatism to the effect that the State would be required to provide teachers for the pupils in question were they located within the free education scheme.
There are 59 fee charging second level schools in the country, of which one is Jewish, 21 Protestant, two inter-denominational and the balance Catholic. The Protestant and Jewish schools receive funding by way of a block grant which has its origins in the desire of the State to enable students of the Protestant and Jewish persuasion to attend schools that reflect their denominational ethoi. The block grant includes payments in respect of capitation and these schools also qualify for payment of such grants as the transition year support grant and secretarial and caretaking grants. Fee charging schools not embraced by the block grant do not qualify for payment of capitation or related supports.
State funding of fee charging schools is complex. In many respects the present system has evolved over time as opposed to its having been rationally planned. That said, we all know that suggestions of change can all too often be seen as threatening and run the risk of being presented in a black and white or winners and losers way. The reality is different. Fee charging schools are not all of a kind. The spectrum of fees charged varies considerably and, in some cases, scholarships are provided. Enrolments in schools in receipt of a Protestant block grant can increasingly include a significant number of pupils from other denominations. Just as the issues are complex, securing change will be equally complex. I have no proposals for a grandstanding or headline setting measure such as the total removal of all State support. Equally, we should not accept the existing arrangements as either ideal or unchangeable. As a first step, I have asked my officials to explore some of the issues involved with representatives of schools in the fee charging sector.