Adding up the cost of teacher cuts [IrishTimes]
- Published: 22 November 2011
Sir, – With respect to increasing the pupil teacher ratio, the Department of Education has decided that “each post left unfilled at second level will yield savings averaging €64,000 a year” (Seán Flynn, Home News, November 19th 20th). Surely this is a false indication of the actual savings?
It appears the department has not taken into consideration that many of the people who may lose their position and not be rehired next year are only in their first few years of teaching. Indeed, many of these are in their first year of teaching, which means they are on a basic wage of less than €30,000 per annum. You can subtract the tax from this, as that will go straight back to the Government anyway. It should also subtract circa €10,000 from its total “saving” due to the jobseeker’s allowance that would be paid to the extra unemployed teachers joining the dole queues, not to mention the rent allowance, medical cards, and other benefits.
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