Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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183. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide a reply to correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26983/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is committed to providing funding to recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the Capitation grant to cater for day to day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general up-keep and the Ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff.

Schools have the flexibility to use capitation funding provided for general running costs and ancillary funding provided for caretaking and secretarial services as a common grant from which the Board of Management can allocate according to its own priorities, except for cases where a secretary is now paid from my Department’s payroll as per circular 36/2022.

The current standard rate of Capitation grant is €183 per pupil at Primary level and this year's grant is being paid, as usual, in 2 instalments, - the first in January and the second in June, for the 2023/24 academic year. Enhanced rates of capitation are also paid in respect of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Traveller pupils.

Primary schools with less than 60 pupils are paid the Capitation and the Ancillary grants based on having 60 pupils.

As part of the capitation package in Budget 2024 I am pleased to have secured €21 million as a permanent increase in capitation funding to assist schools now and longer term with increased day-to-day running costs. This will support a permanent restoration of funding for all primary and post-primary schools from September 2024. This will bring the basic rate of capitation grant to the pre-2011 level of €200 per student in primary schools. Enhanced rates will also be paid in respect of pupils with Special Educational Needs. This represents an increase of circa 9.2% of current standard and enhanced capitation rates.

In addition to these grants, €20 million in funding was issued in October 2023, to support all recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme. This funding is the first tranche of an overall additional €60 million funding announced as part of Budget 2024 measures designed to assist schools with increased day-to-day running costs such as heating and electricity. A further €40 million in funding was delivered in early 2024.

As you may be aware, following the acceptance by Fórsa of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) agreement in respect of salaries and various leave entitlements for grant-funded school secretaries, those secretaries who accepted the terms of this agreement were placed on a payroll operated by my Department from September 2023. Therefore, ancillary related grant funding has been revised to reflect the fact that schools are no longer paying these salaries directly.

The arrangements for the 2023/24 school year are based on reducing grants by the value of the salary schools paid to grant-funded secretaries prior to their acceptance of the new terms and conditions. Schools provided my Department with these details and this information is now being used to reduce the ancillary related grant funding.

Correspondence issued to all schools on 20th December 2023 providing details of these arrangements for the period September to December 2023. Further correspondence issued on 26th April 2024 setting out the position for the period January to August 2024.

Schools have been advised that work is ongoing to identify a method of standardising the reduction to the Ancillary and SSSF Grants for the longer term, where school secretaries are being paid via a payroll operated by my Department. Engagement will take place with school management bodies to discuss these arrangements to ensure that they are as reasonable and as fair as possible for all schools and further details of these arrangements will be provided to schools as soon as they become available.

In Budget 2024 over €47 million was allocated to continue implementation of the schoolbooks scheme at primary level. On the 8th May details of year 2 of the Primary Schoolbooks Scheme were announced which provides at a minimum free schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks to pupils in recognised primary and special schools. More than 555,000 pupils enrolled in approximately 3,230 primary schools, including over 130 special schools will continue to benefit from this scheme.

Revised guidance for the 2024/25 school year was published on my Department’s website at www.gov.ie/schoolbookschemes and has issued to schools.

As the scheme is now implemented in every recognised primary and special school it is expected that schools have used the funding provided in the 2023/24 school year to purchase stocks of schoolbooks and other classroom resources. Many of these items are now available to schools for reuse in the 2024/25 school year and in future school years. The funding allocated to the scheme in the 2024/25 school year takes account of this.

Schools have received €80 per pupil enrolled as of September 2023. It is open to schools to look at their requirements and plan their budget across each of the years collectively. They may choose to spend more than €80 per pupil in one class and in turn, spend less than that per pupil in another class.

In other words, while schools receive the money at the same per capita rate for all pupils they can choose to spread that expenditure differently across the years depending on the requirements. Special schools that have students enrolled in Junior Cycle programmes have received funding at the Junior Cycle per capita rate set out under the new Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme.

As part of the on-going evaluation of the scheme, all schools will be asked to provide data on their expenditure in order to inform the guidance, implementation, costs and efficiency of the scheme for future years.

The Financial Support Services Unit (FSSU), funded by my Department, is an important source of advice and support to schools on financial matters, including budgeting and cashflow management. If the services of the FSSU would be of assistance to the school referred to by the Deputy, please email sdfinfo@education.gov.ie and officials from my Department will contact the FSSU on behalf of the school. Alternatively, budgeting templates and more information can be found on www.fssu.ie.

My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools. Officials from my Department have made enquiries with NEPS on behalf of the school referred to by the Deputy. I have been advised that the school has been informed that it has continuing access to NEPS services including the following:

Access to the NEPS service with an Advisory Psychologist

An invitation for teaching staff to participate in NEPS’ National Support and Development programmes for all primary schools. Information was provided to all schools on these programmes.

Continued NEPS support to the school in the event of a critical incident

Access to the Counselling Pilot Scheme

Where there are concerns in relation to individual pupils, the school has been provided with contact details for their local NEPS office, and a NEPS psychologist will respond to the school’s queries.

The Public Appointments Service (PAS) undertook a recruitment campaign for Educational Psychologists for NEPS earlier this year. Interviews have taken place, and panels of psychologists have been created.