Dr. Ken Fennelly:

On behalf of the Church of Ireland private schools I thank the committee and the Chairman for giving me the opportunity to make a short presentation this morning. I am the Secretary to the Church of Ireland's General Synod Board of Education which is the board within the church's structures that has responsibility for its education policy. In that capacity the board represents the interests of the Church of Ireland in education and also provides an advisory service to the boards of management of Church of Ireland primary schools. To some extent I shall echo what Ms Flynn has said.

While schools under Presbyterian, Methodist or Quaker patronage have their own boards of education, the board also provides support and advice to those schools. For the committee's information, there are ten bishops in the Church of Ireland who are patrons of their local diocesan Church of Ireland primary schools. We also liaise and advise them closely.

The schools that I represent can be outlined as follows. There are 200 Protestant primary schools in the State, 174 are Church of Ireland, 24 are Presbyterian and there is one that is Methodist and one is Quaker. Fifty of the schools are located in Dublin and the remainder are dispersed across the country and many are in rural locations.

In the course of this presentation I hope to describe the direct and indirect costs to parents that result from the costs of running schools. I will echo what Ms Flynn has said. The direct costs are items such as school books, art and stationery, materials, uniforms, costs associated with activities such as swimming and school tours, along with transport costs for those in rural areas. The committee will be aware of the recent survey conducted by Barnardos which advised that it costs €355 for a child to start junior infants and rises to €390 per year thereafter.

As Ms Flynn has said, school books are a significant cost for parents. Many of our schools operate a school book rental scheme where the schools buy books and rent them out. There is a cost incurred by the school but it is a good endeavour in the long run. I wish to express our thanks to the Department of Education and Skills for its book rental scheme guidelines for schools that it issued recently as it has done so for the past couple of years. Schools have told me that they find the guidelines useful. I also thank the Minister for initiating a review of the operation of the school book scheme. Again, schools have told me that they have also found it useful.

A major issue faced by parents living in rural areas is the provision and increase in the cost of school transport. In 2011 a charge of €50 per child for the provision of school transport was introduced and budget 2012 raised it to €100 per child. It constitutes a significant increase over a short period. In 2011, changes to the eligibility criteria in respect of the retention of a school bus service has resulted in the loss, or projected loss, of a large number of school buses representing a significant hardship to the affected parents. We are advised that the grant provided to parents in lieu of the provision of a school bus falls far short of the cost to provide a private bus, instead of the main bus, or to cover the cost of getting a child to school by alternative means. There is also the cost of fuel. The recent changes to the school transport scheme have inflicted an inequitable hardship on parents and children attending schools in rural areas. This matter is of particular interest to the Protestant minority.

As Ms Eileen Flynn stated, the practice in respect of school uniforms varies widely. I am advised that many of our school have moved away from the idea of a special school uniform and now opt for generic clothing that can be purchased relatively cheaply from large retailers and the crest can be affixed later. Some schools have moved from a school uniform entirely and boards tell me this is a conscious effort on their part to reduce costs for parents. I am advised also that some of our schools operate a recycling shelf for school uniforms for children leaving and children coming in, which they found reduces costs considerably. The supply of stationery, art equipment, bags, etc., constitute further direct costs for parents. The current curriculum introduced in 1989 requires art resources. The State does not provide additional funding for this. In most of our schools, the parents' associations are the major supporter for financing these items. The boards of management also rely on the parents' associations to support activities such as swimming or school trips. Parents' associations are also experiencing the effects of the recession with fund raising becoming more difficult, as members will appreciate. I am aware of at least one area of the country where school boards of management have been assisted by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in regard to funding school related activities. School principals also advise me that they are conscious of giving plenty of notice to parents if they are planning a school trip.

While a child's back-to-schools needs may be reduced by cheaper uniforms and book rental schemes and so on, it is important to mention that these costs occur throughout the year and are not a once-off expense. Indirect costs fall to parents arising out of the running of a school. The responsibility for the running of a school or a primary school rests with the board of management of the school receiving funding from the Department of Education and Skills in two main ways, through specific grants for ancillary staff, such as a caretaker and secretary, and capitation funding, which is the amount received per child. As Ms Flynn outlined this will be reduced incrementally by 7.5% by 2015. From our point of view, this represents a major decrease in the core funding of Irish primary schools. In addition, the minor works grant will cease. Schools relied heavily on this grant to fund works during the year. There will also be a VAT increase to 23%. As a possible solution, I wonder if the State could consider applying a reduced rate of VAT to schools. That would greatly assist schools.

The administrative fees for substitution will be reduced by 3%. Fuel and electricity costs in schools and the costs of refuse, recycling and insurance are ever increasing. Schools advise me that insurance ranges from between €4,000 to €6,000 per annum, which is not unusual. There will be an increase in water rates. One of our schools was charged €270 for the month of July when the school was closed. Cleaning is also expensive and the ancillary grant does not usually cover the cost of cleaning. Security is becoming a major issue in schools and this puts another cost on schools. In respect of the cost of the school office, the ancillary grant does not normally pay for the cost of the secretary, the caretaker, the cleaner and security. In addition, given increasing legislative requirements, we must meet the cost of professional advice.

I am aware that many schools have annual deficits of between €10,000 and €20,000 or perhaps more and this is not unusual. This deficit can only be defrayed by seeking contributions from parents and fund-raising while seeking an emergency loan from the patron and the parish. Boards of management are bracing themselves for further announcements in regard to cuts in December, given that we were told last year that the overall target reduction in the budget was €138 million by 2014. Schools also advise us that grant money does not arrive until the end of the year, putting pressure on the cash flow of the schools, with electricity, heating, insurance and so on being paid throughout the year. I wonder if it is possible that funding would be made available throughout the year. Could the Department look at this as a way of helping schools?

While these are not direct costs on parents a shortfall in funding from the State to defray these costs in the schools seeking financial assistance in this regard from parents is the only way that schools can turn. I suggest that boards of management and parents' associations currently use their best endeavours to reduce costs and to fund-raise to support both activities in the school and the running costs of the school. In addition, both school management bodies and the Department of Education and Skills through the procurement services have been endeavouring to encourage schools to use procurement to try and reduce costs to individual schools further. However, the shortfall between the support provided by the State and the rising cost of expenditure faced by schools contributes significantly to the real cost associated with maintaining the child in the school.

Support supplied by the State is standard even though costs can be different across the country. Schools in wealthier sections of the community have a greater capacity to fund-raise than others. I wonder if the Department would consider some differentiation on the grounds of geographical area. We sent out a survey to all our schools on this. One treasurer came back to me with the response that as far as he was concerned school treasurers, principals, boards of management are planning for the worst and hoping for the best.