Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 591: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the criteria used for deciding the level of capitation grant in primary and secondary voluntary schools; and the estimate of the percentage of relevant costs covered by this payment. [35740/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Capitation grants constitute the main form of government funding towards primary and voluntary secondary school operating costs, which affords schools considerable flexibility in the use of these resources to cater for the needs of their pupils. This is in my view, in general, a preferable approach to putting in place grants for specific cost items. As schools are not required to supply returns of actual income and expenditure, I am not in a position to indicate the percentage of expenditure covered by these grants.

In relation to the level of capitation grants, I am aware of ongoing demands by school managerial bodies for additional funding and I am committed to improving the funding position of our schools in the context of overall resources made available in the estimates and in the light of competing demands across the education sector.

There have been significant improvements in recent years in the level of funding provided to primary and voluntary secondary schools. Since 1997 the standard rate of capitation grant at primary level has been increased from €57.14 per pupil to €145.58 in 2006. This represents an increase of almost 155% in the grant over that period. This grant is in addition to the Ancillary Services grant which provides additional funding for primary schools towards the cost of caretaking and secretarial assistance. The standard rate of grant under this scheme has also being substantially increased from €102 per pupil in 2002 to the current rate of €139 per pupil.

In the case of voluntary secondary schools the standard per capita grant of €256 per pupil in the school year 2001/02, has been increased and now stands at €298 per pupil from January, 2006. Secondary schools have also benefited under the school services support fund initiative. Introduced with effect from the 2000/01 school year, the services support grant has been increased to the current rate of €159 per pupil. These grants are in addition to the per capita funding of up to €40,000 per school that is provided by my Department to secondary schools towards secretarial and caretaking services.

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