Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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261. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reasons a person (details supplied) has been refused administrative status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34815/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) which is an independent agency, is responsible, through its network of Special Needs Organisers for determining the appropriate staffing levels in Special schools. The NCSE operates within my Department's policy in allocating this support.

Circular 0042/2011 provides information to schools regarding the staffing arrangements which apply in Special schools. The Circular sets out that special schools are staffed based on their pupil profiles and the disability category of the pupils enrolled, as opposed to being based principally on school designation. Staffing levels therefore reflect the complexity of needs that exist within schools rather than being determined solely by a school's designation, in recognition that many Special schools enrol students from disability categories other than from those provided for by their school designations.

In determining the staffing allocation for schools, the NCSE takes into account up-to-date enrolment and pupil profile information. School staffing schedules are reviewed and updated each year by the NCSE. As such, the profile of Special school pupil populations are aligned with appropriate staffing allocations.

Staffing arrangements for special schools are in line with policy advice provided by the NCSE, which did not recommend alteration to staffing ratios established under the Report of the Special Education Review Committee (SERC).

In addition, as outlined in the SERC Report, administrative principals should be recognised in all special schools at the point at which the sixth teacher (i.e. the fifth assistant teacher) is about to be appointed.

There are no plans to deviate from these arrangements for special schools that do not meet the criteria set out above.

The school to which the Deputy refers, having a staffing of 1 principal and 3 assistant teachers, is not eligible for an administrative principal post at this point in time as the school does not meet the qualifying criteria.

I am aware of the workload and the pressures on teaching Principals. In this regard, my Department has provided release days for teaching principals to assist them in fulfilling their Principal duties. Circular 25/02 which is available on my Department's website outlines the number of days that teaching principals may take as release time in a school year.

Under these arrangements my Department pays for a substitute teacher to be employed by a school to facilitate administrative functions to be undertaken by the teaching principal. Under the current arrangements the number of days that principal teachers may take as release time in each school year ranges between 14 and 22 days depending on the size of the school. My Department provides capitation funding to all recognised primary schools. The amount of grant paid to an individual primary school for capitation and ancillary services is determined by the school’s enrolment, subject to a minimum grant for both capitation and ancillary services in respect of schools with enrolments up to 60, and a maximum ancillary services grant in the case of schools with enrolments of 500 or more.

Boards of Management have autonomy on how they use and prioritise that funding to meet their day to day running costs including for the provision of secretarial services, to assist with school administration.

The detailed arrangements are set out in Circular 0076/2015 that was published in December 2015 on my Departments website.