Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 792: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if urgent assistance will be given to a school (details supplied) in Dublin 5 with more resource hours for special needs education; the disparity in funding between vocational educational committees and voluntary secondary schools; and if the funding in this school will be expanded. [10749/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides a range of supports to second level school management to enable schools to cater for pupils with special educational needs. The supports in question include remedial and resource teaching support, special needs assistant support and funding for the purchase of specialised equipment.

The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has been established as an independent statutory body with responsibilities as set out in the National Council for Special Education (Establishment) Order 2005. Since 1 January 2005, the NCSE through local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, is responsible for processing resource applications for children with special educational needs. The level of teaching and special needs assistant support for special educational needs is determined by the SENO in accordance with my Department's resourcing policy for special educational needs.

In situations where schools have over quota posts, my Department routinely requires that these posts be utilised to meet new and emerging needs within such schools, including those of pupils who have special educational needs, where appropriate. In the case of the school in question, my Department decided that the teaching hours recommended by the SENO should be met from within the school's existing resources, which included 2.19 surplus teaching posts. An independent appeals committee is available to school authorities who wish to appeal the adequacy of their teacher allocation. The school in question appealed this decision to the independent appeals committee. The appeals committee decided that no further allocation was warranted. This committee operates independently of my Department and its decisions are final.

The funding arrangements made by my Department for second level schools reflect the different management and ownership arrangements for vocational schools and community colleges, and voluntary secondary schools. Financial allocations for vocational schools and community colleges are made to VECs as part of a block grant, which also covers VEC head office overheads and other activities apart from the second level programme. Voluntary secondary schools are funded on a per capita grant basis which affords schools considerable flexibility in the use of these resources to cater for the needs of their pupils.

At the core of funding arrangements at second level is reliance upon capitation as the principal determinant of funding. This is in my view, in general, a preferable approach to putting in place grants for specific cost items such as that referred to by the Deputy.

Significant improvements have been made in the level of funding to secondary schools. The standard per capita grant which stood at €256 per pupil in the school year 2001-02 has been increased to €298 per pupil from January 2006. Under the school services support fund initiative, secondary schools will also benefit from the further significant increases. This grant was increased for secondary schools from €131 per pupil in January 2005 to €159 per pupil from January 2006. In addition, up to €40,000 per school is provided by my Department to secondary schools towards secretarial and caretaking services. A secondary school with 500 pupils receives annual grants of up to €270,000 towards general expenses and support services.

These significant increases in the funding of secondary schools are a clear demonstration of my commitment to prioritise available resources to address the needs of the schools.