Ms Eileen Flynn:

I thank the Chairman for the invitation to make a presentation here. As Members will know, the Catholic Primary School Management Association, CPSMA, represents the boards of management of 2,900 primary schools and provides a wide range of services to those schools.

The rising costs for parents whose children return to school in September is of major concern to us. Primary schools are can-do places and have a good relationship with parents and work closely with them. Issues of concern to parents are issues of concern to the boards of management. As a brief backdrop to the issue, one cannot consider the problems faced by parents without putting them in context. At present there is inadequate funding for primary schools so there is a direct correlation between funding for schools and costs borne by parents. Many schools are chronically under funded and when they are short they must go to the parent population - their nearest port of call - to make up the shortfall. I shall give a brief example. The capitation grant for primary schools was reduced over the past three years by €22 for pupils in a mainstream class and by €100 for a special child in a mainstream class. The way the capitation grant is paid also poses a problem for schools. It is paid in two moieties - the first arrives in June and the next arrives the following February. It is a bit like live horse and eat grass, one is left without a cashflow for that period each year.

A wonderful grant called the minor works grant - which we feel is under threat - used to arrive which gave a great cashflow opportunity to schools during the period when the capitation grant had well run out. It allowed schools to survive until the second capitation grant moiety was paid the following February. If one combines the capitation reduction and the potential loss of the minor works grant together one will find that a school of 100 pupils, which has five special needs pupils in mainstream education, will be down €10,000 in total. That is a significant drop in income in any school and where must the school turn to make that sum up, to the parents.

Additionally, there are changes in schools because they are treated like businesses. Therefore, they must pay charges for water, An Post and all of the usual utility bills for oil, heat, bin charges, fire certificates, fire alarm calls and their maintenance. Schools are treated as a business but being able to claim what businesses can claim is not the same thing. For example, schools cannot claim VAT expenses on purchases.

The CPSMA conducted a survey of its members to provide solutions - and that is what the committee asked for too - to issues that are of concern to parents. The two biggest cost factors identified were uniforms and books. It was suggested - and largely supported across the board - that parents should be allowed to buy uniforms in any main store and crests could be bought as a separate item thus enabling them to be sewed or stuck on and passed on to the next school jumper or cardigan that a pupil wears. Bulk buying was another suggestion. The notion of swapping uniforms and parents hosting recycling days for uniforms were also clearly indicated in responses received from parents as ways to cut costs. Sometimes people promote the idea of having no uniform but the notion was not quite what we thought it would work out to be. We asked about it but were told that it may seem attractive initially. However, when the yearly cost of providing clothes instead of a uniform was examined one was faced with peer pressure. Children wanted labels from high-end products sewn onto cheaper models and then they would wear them to school.

The next issue was books and book rental. The vast majority of schools seem to have a book rental scheme in place. Its set-up and maintenance costs are significant. Schools must find the money to continue with such schemes. It was suggested that publishers should bind their books properly thus ensuring that they last longer. It was also suggested that publishers should be asked not to update their books on a regular basis and for schools to examine their book policy. In other words, they should first ensure that there is a series of books available before making the decision to change. Perhaps they should also examine alternative ways of teaching the curriculum so that schools are not so dependent on textbooks or workbooks but instead use visualisers that are available through grants from the Department of Education and Skills and so on. Several suggestions were made along those lines.

The CPSMA has run procurement competitions. Schools were asked to sign up for the procurement of gas, oil and other requisites with the National Procurement Service. One school saved 40% because it joined a national procurement scheme to pay its bills. We encourage schools to examine the measure outlined in order that they do not pass their financial pressures on to their parent population through seeking voluntary contributions or other fund-raising exercises.

If schools can plan for what is required and spread it across the year then it might lighten the financial burden on parents. Schools in certain locations may find it more difficult to fund-raise. I hope that I have covered most of the issues.