More teachers and special needs resources in record €11bn for education
THE education budget has hit a record €11.1bn, with much of increased spending devoted to the ongoing rise in school enrolments and providing resources for pupils with special needs.
Of 581 additional teachers, 408 will be working with children with special needs, along with an extra 1,064 special needs assistants (SNAs) reflecting the greater attention the education system is paying this area.
The overall allocation for special education in 2020 is €1.9bn, almost one-fifth of the entire budget in this sector.
With teacher numbers rising to 71,473 and SNAs up to almost 17,000, the education payroll continues to climb.
While Budget 2020 does nothing to reduce the largest class sizes in the eurozone, there is compensation for 20 small schools, set to benefit from an improvement in staffing allocations for schools with up to four teachers.
The support for small schools was flagged earlier in the year by Education Minister Joe McHugh, who said yesterday that it “recognises the importance of communities”.
His county, Donegal, is one of a number where rural schools are under threat from declining populations.
All schools will see an increase in the capitation grant paid to meet daily running costs, but at 2.5pc, schools will still be receiving less than when this funding was slashed at the height of the financial crisis.
The overall value of the 2.5pc increase to the system, at both levels, is €4.8m in a full year, but primary schools alone say they are €46m a year short of what they need to meet running costs.
A pilot project on free school books that could benefit hundreds of primary schools is promised, and the full details are expected to be outlined by Mr McHugh today.
A long-running campaign to award primary teaching principals more time to tend to administrative duties has been addressed, in part, with one extra release day for 1,760 principals in schools with fewer than seven teachers.
A further €26m is being allocated for the school transport scheme, but, similar to the increase in teacher numbers, this is to cater for growing enrolments, rather than any relaxation of the rules.
The Budget held no big surprises for higher education, with an allocation of €60m of the €300m Human Capital Initiative announced last year for courses and college places to meet skills needs.
Meanwhile, €74m is being made available from the National Training Fund to boost apprenticeships and employer-led training.
The Budget drew some mixed reaction, with the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals director Clive Byrne and Fianna Fáil education spokesperson Thomas Byrne welcoming the investment in students with special educational needs.
But unions were unenthused, with Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland president Deirdre MacDonald saying it did little to address the education funding deficit.
“At a time of growing student numbers, initiative overload and substantial curriculum change, Ireland ranks in last place out of 35 countries for investment in second-level education as a percentage of GDP. Schools and teachers are overstretched and students are missing out,” she said.
Irish National Teachers’ Organisation general secretary John Boyle said students and principals were “shortchanged”.
Teachers’ Union of Ireland president Seamus Lahart said it fell “far short of the additional investment required to provide positive, transformative change for the education system”.
Irish Federation of University Teachers deputy general secretary Frank Jones said “the failure to address the funding crisis in higher education highlights a continued policy paralysis in government on the sector, that threatens to undermine our universities and the education of tens of thousands of students countrywide”.