Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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340. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the main initiatives she has taken to improve the quality of secondary education since 27 June 2020; the additional funding provided in successive budgets; her plans for 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29600/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Overall, my Department will spend almost €2.8 billion on special education in 2024, supporting students across mainstream and specialised settings. Almost 1,300 new special classes have been sanctioned over the last four years. For the coming school year, there will be over 3,000 special classes operating in primary and post-primary schools. Seven new special schools have been established in recent years, and another 4 special schools will open in Meath, Kildare, Wexford and Limerick for the coming school year.

Since 2020, the Department has invested in excess of €4.9 billion in our schools throughout the country, with close to 50% of this dedicated to Post Primary schools. During the period 2020 to 2023 over 200 projects, including 17 new school buildings, have been completed in the Post Primary sector. In the same period in excess of €140 million was invested in over 550 small scale repair/improvement projects in Post Primary school throughout the country under the Summer Works Scheme and Emergency Works Scheme.

This level of investment highlights the Government’s very strong track record of delivery in providing additional capacity and modern facilities for our school communities. Currently at Post Primary level there are close to 100 projects, including 10 new school buildings, with construction underway. There are also over 140 Post Primary projects, including 30 new school buildings, currently at the tender or advanced planning stages. All these new school buildings are flagship projects in their area and transform the education infrastructure for those school communities.

My Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential. Supplementing the universal supports available to all schools, the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) Programme is a key policy initiative of my Department to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level in a targeted and equitable way across the primary and post-primary sector. In March 2022, I announced the single largest expansion of the DEIS programme. This benefited 361 schools. The programme now includes in the region of 1,200 schools and supports approximately 260,000 students. 1 in 4 students and 30% of schools are now supported in the programme. This expansion added an additional €32 million to my Department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the overall Department of Education allocation for the programme to over €180 million.

My Department has committed to annually revising the allocation of Posts of Responsibility to take into account retirements during the school year which has ensured that the current level of Posts of Responsibility (PORs) are maintained in the school system. New POR threshold tables are produced each year to distribute these POR’s equitably across all schools. Since the commencement of the restoration of these posts at post-primary level, there has also been an increased allocation in respect of Deputy Principal posts with over 450 additional posts allocated to schools. In the 2021/22 school year, the enrolment threshold for the allocation of an additional Deputy Principal in DEIS post-primary schools was reduced from 700 to 600 pupils. These additional posts provide resources to focus on leadership and management in our schools. This recognises the key role school leadership has in promoting a school environment which is welcoming, inclusive and accountable.

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 as a common grant from which the board of management can allocate according to its own priorities.

I understand the need for increased capitation funding and I am pleased that I have been able to provide for significant increases in capitation funding for primary and post-primary schools in Budget 2024, which includes a permanent restoration of capitation funding as well as an increase for cost-of-living pressures. The current standard rate of Capitation grant is €183 per pupil at primary level and €316 per pupil at post primary level. 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 and €345 per student in post primary schools. Enhanced rates will also be paid in respect of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Traveller pupils. This represents an increase of circa 9.2% of current standard and the relevant 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 was 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 2024.

In March this year, I announced details of a new ground-breaking scheme which provides free schoolbooks to Junior Cycle students in post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme. Special schools who have students enrolled in Junior Cycle programmes will also receive this funding. More than 213,000 students enrolled in approximately 670 post-primary schools and over 65 special schools will benefit from the new scheme. This scheme ensures that parents and guardians will not be asked to buy or rent any schoolbooks or core classroom resources for students in Junior Cycle programmes. The investment of €68 million in 2024 significantly increases the funding that is currently provided to post-primary schools for schoolbooks. It reinforces the Government’s commitment to expand the free schoolbooks scheme to schools nationwide, as resources allow. The scope of the scheme means that schools will continue to have autonomy to choose schoolbooks and related classroom resources that meet curricular requirements. In the case of special classes in post-primary schools, they have autonomy to choose resources that meet the learning needs of the students. The extension of the scheme to Senior Cycle students will be considered as part of future budget negotiations.

My Department has committed considerable resources towards the restoration of guidance allocation to post-primary schools, to the provision of CPD for guidance counsellors and to the provision of a national guidance counselling supervision service for post-primary guidance counsellors.

As part of the COVID-19 operational supports to schools for the 2021/22 school year, approximately 120 posts were provided for guidance to support student well-being. These posts were restored on a permanent basis in the 2022/23 school year. This brings guidance provision in schools back to the level last seen before the financial crisis in 2012.

Any possible further measures will be part of Budget 2025 negotiations. While not wishing to pre-empt the outcomes of any future Budget negotiations or fiscal parameters agreed by Government, the Department of Education will continue to seek and prioritise the additional funding required to meet the ongoing costs of running schools as part of the annual Estimates process.