Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 218: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the deficits in the funding of second level education; and if she will support the ASTI, USSI and the NPC on this matter. [33726/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There have been significant improvements in the level of funding allocated to second level schools in recent years. Not only have voluntary secondary schools benefitted from the increases in the standard per capita grant, which stands at €286 per pupil since last January, but they have also gained from the introduction of grants under the school services support initiative. The standard support services grant, which was increased to €103 from January 2005, was increased further to €145 per pupil in the case of voluntary secondary schools. The increased grant of €42 per pupil is paid in addition to the range of equalisation grants of up to €15,554, or €44.44 per pupil, per annum which have been approved for voluntary secondary schools.

Teacher allocations for second level schools are approved by the Department of Education and Science on an annual basis, in accordance with generally applied rules relating to recognised pupil enrolment. In general, a ratio of 18:1 is applied in respect of recognised pupils on established junior certificate, leaving certificate, repeat leaving certificate and transition year programmes and a ratio of 16:1 is applied in respect of recognised pupils on the leaving certificate vocational programme, post-leaving certificate courses and the applied leaving certificate programme. There have been significant improvements in the pupil teacher ratio at post-primary level in recent years. There was one teacher for every 16 pupils in the 1997-98 school year, but that ratio decreased to 13.4:1 in the 2004-05 school year.

Enormous progress has been made in recent years to increase the number of teachers in our schools who are specifically dedicated to providing education for children with special educational needs. At second level, there are 1,614 whole time equivalent teachers in place to support pupils with special educational needs. By contrast, there were 558 teachers in place in the 2001-02 school year for such pupils. In addition, some 1,023 whole time equivalent special needs assistants are in our second level schools at present, compared to 292 in the 2001-02 school year.

The new action plan for educational inclusion, delivering equality of opportunity in schools, aims to ensure that the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities are prioritised and effectively addressed. The plan provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated school support programme which will bring together and build on a number of existing interventions for schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. At second level, the new standardised system for identifying disadvantage in schools will replace all the existing arrangements for targeting schools for participation in initiatives aimed at addressing disadvantage. As a result, the 150 second level schools which will be included in the new school support programme will benefit from additional staffing and funding supports, including increased funding under the school book grant scheme, access to home school community liaison scheme services and access to a range of academic and non-academic supports to retain young people in school. Such measures will be extended to second level schools in the school support programme on a phased basis. The significant increases in the funding of post-primary schools represent a clear demonstration of my commitment to prioritising the available resources to address the needs of schools.