Parliamentary Question addressed to the Minister for Education and Science

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in the interest of fairness and to
ensure access to the school of choice, if fee paying schools from a minority
faith background could be exempt from any further increases in the pupil
teacher ratio; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Reply (Minister Ruairí Quinn)

The Government has protected frontline services in schools to the greatest
extent possible in the recent budget and there will no reduction in teacher
numbers in primary schools and in free second level schools for the 2013/14
school year as a result of the budget. The DEIS scheme for disadvantaged
schools is also fully protected with no overall changes to staffing levels or
funding as a result of the budget.

At post primary level and in order to promote fairness in funding second level
schools, a two-point increase in the pupil teacher ratio in fee-charging second
level schools will be introduced in September 2013. There are currently 55
schools out of 723 post-primary schools charging fees ranging from €2,550 to
€10,065 for day pupils.

At present, the State pays the salaries of one teacher for every 21 pupils in
these schools compared with one teacher for every 19 pupils in schools in the
free education scheme. A ratio of 18.25 pupils to one teacher, applies in DEIS
schools. This will rise to 23:1 in fee-charging schools from September 2013.

However, these schools have the resources, through fees charged, to employ
teachers privately, an option which is not available to schools in the free
education scheme. A report on the analysis of the tuition income of
fee-charging schools carried out by the Department was recently published and
shows that the schools in question have €81m in discretionary income that
schools in the free scheme do not have.

It is important to note that the report does not contain any policy proposals
at this stage. However, even after the Budget changes are implemented, the
discretionary income available to these schools will still be quite
considerable.

There are some concerns within the Church of Ireland community on the recent
budget measure affecting fee-charging schools. This Government recognises the
importance of ensuring that students from a Protestant or Reformed church
background can attend a school that reflects their denominational ethos while
at the same time ensuring that funding arrangements are in accordance with the
provisions of the Constitution.

How best to sustain education provision for widely dispersed and small local
communities does present as a particular challenge, especially in any locality
where enrolment is declining to single figures. The Government is intent in
fostering pluralism in school provision. Supporting small communities including
minorities in maintaining their schools is part of that policy.

With regard to the fee-charging Protestant schools, an arrangement exists
whereby funding is provided by my Department to the Secondary Education
Committee (SEC), an organisation run by the churches involved in managing the
Protestant secondary schools. The SEC then disburses funds to the Protestant
fee-charging schools on behalf of pupils who would otherwise have difficulty
with the cost of fees and who, in the absence of such financial support, would
be unable to attend a second level school of a reformed church or Protestant
ethos. Funding amounts to €6.5 million annually. This fund ensures that
necessitous Protestant children can attend a school of their choice.