Mr. Seamus Mulconry:

On behalf of the Catholic Primary School Management Association, CPSMA, I thank the joint committee for its invitation to present on school costs. It is important to stress that school costs for parents are mainly determined by the Government, not by schools. Persistent and unconstitutional underfunding of the primary school system has led to a situation where parents subvent the basic cost of running primary schools by €46 million per year. The CPSMA has always advised schools that voluntary contributions are voluntary. Schools are aware that some parents are not in a position to compensate for State underfunding by making a voluntary contribution. Schools are sensitive to this issue and we encourage parents to speak to the school principal if they have concerns in that regard.

The CPSMA has noted a tendency among some commentators in the past few weeks to blame primary schools for back-to-school costs. The reality is that primary schools have as much impact on the cost of returning to school as small farmers have on the price of meat in a supermarket. The power to raise or lower the cost of going to school does not lie with primary schools but with the Government and the Department of Public Expenditure.

Although the committee is focused in these hearings on the impact of school costs on parents, my focus is on the impact of underfunding on schools and parents. I would be failing in my duty if I did not alert the committee to our growing concern that the persistent underfunding of primary schools poses a potential threat to the quality of education children receive. Time spent by principals on an ever-growing administrative and fundraising burden is time not spent leading teaching and learning. The restoration of the full capitation grant is urgently needed as a first step towards the proper funding of the primary education system.

I refer the committee to our full submission on the specific issues it is considering. I refer specifically to the textbook rental scheme. The concept of textbook rental schemes was developed by primary schools prior to being embraced by the Government through a formal scheme in 2013. The textbook rental schemes operated by schools have assisted parents with back-to-school costs and created greater accessibility to textbooks for all pupils. The continued funding of textbook rental schemes is an ongoing concern for schools which wish to utilise various textbook schemes, support the implementation of the new curriculum and replace textbooks which have been subject to natural wear and tear. The CPSMA submits that further funding in the form of an enhanced annual book grant is required for all schools.

The operation of a textbook rental scheme is a time-intensive organisational process which is carried out by voluntary groups of parents, school staff or both. Oversight and organisation of the scheme are additional tasks for school management. In the light of the continual workload increases placed on school principals, leadership teams and boards of management, the CPSMA calls for the immediate restoration of leadership and management posts to pre-moratorium levels and the introduction of one release day per week for teaching principals.

Primary schools are local schools run by local voluntary boards of management which are aware of the financial pressures faced by parents in their communities and, consequently, make every effort to reduce costs. A recent OECD report indicates that Ireland is 16th or 17th in the world in the provision of funding in this area, whereas the United States is second.