Should private schools still receive state aid? [Irish Independent]
- Published: 11 March 2009
Source: Irish Independent
It has become one of the most contentious issues in education. Every year, the taxpayer shells out over €100m in subsidies to fee-paying schools.
As education suffers severe cutbacks across the board, there has been a growing clamour for these payments to be curtailed.
Why, say the critics, should the ordinary taxpayer fork out for the education of pupils at Blackrock College, for example?
The famous school in south county Dublin received just under €4m from the State in payment for the salaries for teachers, making it the top-earning private school in the country.
Just down the road, St Andrew's College, which has counted the children of rock stars and plutocrats among its pupils, received €3.4m in state hand-outs. Mount Anville, the famous girls' school in south county Dublin, received $2.4m.
When special needs classes are being slashed and book grants for poorer students axed in ordinary schools, it is hardly surprising that subsidies to private colleges are under the spotlight.
On the face of it, the case against state subsidies to the fee-paying sector seems clear-cut. But the issue is not as simple as it seems.
While schools such as Blackrock and Clongowes attract the headlines, there are other middle-of-the-road institutions who have a much more mixed intake.
Some Protestant schools in rural areas charge fees, but take in pupils from a wide variety of social backgrounds.
The fee-paying schools themselves warn that a sudden withdrawal of funding would cause chaos and actually add an extra financial burden on to the State.
The fee-paying sector has led something of a charmed life in Ireland, and there is no doubt that that this has benefited middle income earners, who value private education.
As a result of the subsidies, private schools here tend to charge much lower fees than their English counterparts.
To take one example, students at St Gerard's School in Bray, one of the most exclusive schools in the country, pay €6,100 per year. A comparable school, Westminster School in London, has fees of €21,246 per year.
The lower fees are explained by our system of government subsidies.
So what would happen if these payments were abolished?
Arthur Godsil, principal of St. Andrew's College, recently warned that the withdrawal of the subsidies would lead to a dramatic rise in fees.
As a result, many parents, who might already be struggling to pay fees, would have to enroll in non fee-paying schools, resulting in much greater costs to the taxpayer.
Richer parents could still pay, of course, but thousands of middle-income earners would fall back on the State. This argument seems to have been accepted by the Minister for Education, Batt O'Keeffe, and previous holders of his post.
In a written answer to a question by Labour TD Mary Upton last Thursday, the minister stated: "In the absence of fee-paying schools and the enrolment of all pupils in the non-fee paying sector, there would be subsequent additional costs and teachers would still have to be paid."
Rather than axing the private school subsidies completely, the Government is likely to chip away at them gradually, as it tries to slash costs.
This has already happened in the most recent budget. Teachers in fee-paying schools are now paid by the department on the basis of a pupil-teacher ratio of 20 to one, compared to 18 to one last year.
The Budget also axed support services grants to Protestant schools, which were worth a total of €2.8m per year.
While he acknowledged that there were complexities concerning some fee-paying schools, Peter McMenamin, General Secretary of the Teachers Union of Ireland, says continuation of the current system of subsidies is "morally inexcusable".
The TUI boss argues: "All of these schools by definition operate discriminatory selective procedures, whether that be by excluding minority ethnic students or those with special educational needs, or more blatantly, by pitching the level of fees so high as to put them out of reach of all but a minorit
"Funding should be dependent on a fair and open admissions policy.''
Supporters of the subsidies, on the other hand, argue that a withdrawal of the payment would not only add millions to the State's education budget, by forcing parents to look to non fee-paying schools -- it would also hit poorer Protestants, many of whom have no alternative to a fee-paying school, subsidised by the State.
Our present system of payments has its origins in the birth of the free education system in the '60s.
At the time the State could not provide full support for free Protestant schools. So those schools continued to charge fees, with a system of grants for less well-off pupils.
Bandon Grammar School in Cork is one of a number of Protestant schools which receive pupils from a wide geographical and social background.
While the school charges fees, up to 50pc of pupils receive grant assistance, because they cannot afford the full charges, and 12pc of pupils do not pay any fees at all.
"For a school like ours, the payment of teachers' salaries by the State is an absolute necessity,'' says principal Ian Coombes.
"We are already being hit heavily by the budget cutbacks. If the teachers were not paid by the Government, a school such as this could not keep going.''
Minister Seán Haughey TD addresses the Joint North South Traveller Education Conference [DES]
- Published: 11 March 2009
Source: DES
Seán Haughey TD, Minister for Lifelong Learning, today addressed the Joint North South Traveller Education Conference at the Canal Court Hotel, Newry, Co Down.
Speaking at the conference Minister Haughey said 'This is a very significant day for traveller education throughout the entire island of Ireland.
'We are all here with the common aim of working together to improve the practice, delivery and educational outcomes for traveller children and learners of all ages on this island.
'It is of huge significance that a Taskforce on Traveller Education has been established in Northern Ireland.
'The link between education, lifelong learning, training and enterprise is vital in supporting greater participation by Travellers in our society at every level.
'I compliment my colleague, Caitríona Ruane, on establishing this most important Taskforce and I wish Robbie McVeigh, Chairman and all members of the Taskforce every success in their deliberations.
'I am especially pleased that my Department is participating in this vital work, and I am in no doubt but that the outcome of the Taskforce's work will be hugely beneficial to Traveller education in every part of Ireland.
Minister Haughey concluded by wishing all involved with the conference every success in the future.
Landmark case win for school [wexfordpeople.ie]
- Published: 11 March 2009
Wexford People - www.wexfordpeople.ie
Landmark case win for school
Wednesday March 11 2009
A WEXFORD primary school has claimed a victory in landmark judicial proceedings taken against the Department of Education, which ordered it to enrol two boys with autism when only one place was available.
The proceedings arose from a decision of Scoil Mhuire, Coolcotts, last year to inform the parents of a ten-year-old boy that there was no place available for him.
The boy was fourth on a waiting list for a place at the Wexford town school which provides specialist education for autistic children.
The boy's parents appealed to a committee established under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 which allows appeals on behalf of children whose school enrolment applications have been refused.
The committee ruled that the child's placing on the list was unreasonable and the Department of Education ordered Scoil Mhuire to enrol him.
As a result the parents of a four-yearold child, who had been offered a place because he was at the top of the waiting list, were told that their child could not start at the school.
They also took a Section 29 appeal which was heard by a committee of different people. That action also resulted in the Department of Education ordering the school to enrol the four-year-old.
The board of Scoil Mhuire then instituted High Court proceedings seeking the quashing of the Department's decision.
It also sought orders that the Section 29 committees had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeals and acted in breach of natural and constitutional justice.
Scoil Mhuire claimed that it did not refuse to enrol the ten-year-old, but acted within its enrolment policy and the appeals committee was not entitled to disregard that policy.
Heading into the fifth day of the hearing of the case at the High Court recently, the Department of Education decided to settle and Principal Pat Goff said it is very important for the school that they have been found to have acted correctly.
'The Department granted us everything we asked for, they backed down completely on everything,' said Mr. Goff.
He said that the idea of the appeal committee is a good one, but that in the case of their school, and others, the committees had been taking other factors into account and effectively changing the valid, constitutional enrolment policy of the school.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said it does not comment on individual cases, but confirmed that a settlement has been agreed between the parties in this case.
It's understood that the Government will be picking up the significant bill for the High Court proceedings, believed to be in excess of ¤250,000.
Despite the landmark action, the four-year-old and ten-year-old at the centre of the proceedings have both been attending Scoil Mhuire since last September as extra resources were made available to the school by the department to accommodate them.
Section 29 appeals were also taken in relation to four other boys who did not receive places in Scoil Mhuire last year. Two were later taken into the school as the resources became available and two more are on the waiting list for next September.
However, following the judicial review action against the Department, the school is expecting all future Section 29 committees to stick rigidly to the school's enrolment policy when considering appeals, not other, unrelated factors.
Schools to be offered grants to help lower bills [Irish Examiner]
- Published: 10 March 2009
Source: Irish Examiner
by Niall Murray
SCHOOLS are to be offered grants to help reduce their spiralling water and energy bills, including funding for insulation similar to that recently announced for homeowners.
Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe will announce details soon but said he has not yet been able to secure a definitive sum for the Summer Works Scheme which was cancelled last year.
He said in light of complaints from schools about electricity costs and water charges, he will introduce a scheme emphasising the conservation of energy and water. All schools must pay their local council a e4 water charge for every pupil annually, but they will be charged for actual water usage when metered billing is introduced next year.
"I'll make grants available to schools to enable them cut back on use of energy and water, which will certainly include insulation. It would be ironic if we were making grants available to private homes and not making them available to schools in relation to conservation.
"We want to create a culture of conservation and who better to involve than children, as part of the overall educational process," the minister said.
The grants will be operated separately from the summer scheme, which he said will have funding available this year but the amount will not be decided until he has further information on the public finances.
Around 1,200 primary and second-level schools applied in September 2007 for funding under the programme last summer to carry out non-urgent repair works, and spent more than e1 million on builders' and architects' fees preparing submissions. But Mr O'Keeffe's predecessor Mary Hanafin cancelled the scheme in favour of more urgent large-scale building works in the 2008 budget.
Irish National Teachers' Organisation general secretary John Carr said the failure to announce details of the 2009 scheme was inexcusable.
"It's time the minister stopped stringing schools and the general public along and say once and for all if there is going to be a scheme this summer. If there is, then schools want to know when and how to apply for funding to carry out work on heating systems, electricity supply and crumbling buildings.
"Schools need time to make applications, get approval, seek quotations, engage contractors and make arrangements for work to be carried out," Mr Carr said.
The minister said his officials have started examining 2008 applications in the last few weeks and he believes it is not too late yet to invite fresh submissions. The programme was worth an average of e73m a year since being introduced in 2004, and helped carry out more than 3,000 projects.
Education reform [Irish Times]
- Published: 10 March 2009
Source: Irish Times
THE REPORT of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) on education and training published yesterday is a timely and challenging document. At the outset, it acknowledges the strain placed on the education system by the economic downturn. Refreshingly, it does not demand unrealistic levels of new investment. Indeed, most of its proposals are revenue neutral. Its central thrust is well summarised by chairman Dr Don Thornhill in his foreword when he says the downturn means "the way in which resources are used can be just as important as the overall level of funding".
The report appears sceptical of current policy formation in the education sector. It is critical of teacher associations which it says are "primarily focused on industrial relations issues rather than being formal professional bodies focused on training, standards and professional development''.
The NCC is also clearly impatient with the lack of progress made in addressing long standing problems such as the poor take-up of maths and science and under investment in technology for schools. In one thought provoking section, it hints that investment in school facilities and teacher in-service training might be more beneficial than the "expensive'' move to cut class size in primary schools.
Given the downturn, the NCC wants all stakeholders in education to respond with the necessary flexibility to ensure our education system can continue to improve. Many of its proposals are sensible and pragmatic. It wants a dramatic increase in the time invested in maths and science and new incentives for students to take higher level in the Leaving Certificate exams. It favours an overhaul of the curricula and modes of assessment to develop critical thinking and self-directed learning. It says investment in further education and training courses should be targeted in areas where skills shortages are forecast and in sectors where potential exists for future employment growth.
There is no "silver bullet" in the report which will magically transform the education sector or the economic outlook. But, taken together, its recommendations point the way towards a more flexible and innovative education system better placed to meet the economic challenges. Regrettably, there are few grounds for optimism that the report will actually be implemented. The education system has many merits but, as the NCC hints, a capacity to speedily implement change is not one of them.
