Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 March 2007
573 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science the way the amount of funding to vocational education committees is determined; if it is by a fixed amount for each student in VEC schools; if so, the proportion of this sum spent on schools; and the amount spent on administration. [11608/07]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe funding arrangements made by my Department for voluntary secondary, comprehensive & community and VEC schools and colleges reflect the different management and ownership arrangements that apply to schools at second level.
Voluntary secondary schools, in the Free Education scheme, which are privately owned and managed, are funded by way of per capita grants. Community & Comprehensive schools are funded on a budget basis, that is based mainly on pupil numbers, but also take into account additional factors which vary from school to school such as disadvantaged status, age of buildings, size of school etc. Financial allocations for Vocational schools and Community colleges are made to the VECs as part of a block grant which also covers the VEC head-office overheads and other activities apart from the second-level programme. At the core of all arrangements is a reliance upon capitation as the principle determinant of funding. All schools submit a return of pupil enrolments based on the number attending as at 30th September each year. Schools have considerable discretion as to how this funding is best utilised in the interests of pupils.
In the case of VECs, the Department does not earmark funding allocations for individual schools or for the various activities of VECs. The way in which such allocations are distributed among schools is a matter for each committee in line with their priorities and perceptions of need. As VECs are given a high level of autonomy in the management and appropriation of their budgets, the extent of information requested by the Deputy is not readily available in my Department and would involve an inordinate amount of administrative time to compile.
Major improvements have been made in the funding of our second level schools in recent years and I will continue to prioritise this area. With effect from January 2007, the standard per capita grant was increased by €18 per pupil and now amounts to €316 per pupil. An additional per capita grant of €38.09 per pupil is paid to disadvantaged schools bringing the total per capita grant in the case of such schools to €354.09. In addition, equalisation funding grants of up to €44.44 per pupil, subject to a cap of €15,554 per secondary school, introduced in 2001 and also additional to the per capita grants of some €70 per pupil, subject to a cap of €24,442 per school, introduced in 1992, are provided to voluntary secondary schools.
Budget allocations for the VEC and Community & Comprehensive sectors are increased on a pro rata basis with increases in the per capita grant.
