Primary school chiefs fear funding cut

PRIMARY school managers have called on the Government to restore funding to help board members carry out their duties.

New boards of management were elected at the country’s 3,200 primary schools last October to serve for the next four years. All boards at primary level comprise the principal and a teachers’ representative, two parents, two community representatives and two nominees of the patron - the local bishop in all but 5% of schools.

The responsibilities of school boards have increased with the introduction of new laws and regulations in recent years. In previous years, funding was made available from the Department of Education for regional training sessions.

But the Catholic Primary School Managers’ Association (CPSMA) claims the department has told them funding is not available for the training of boards this year.

At the CPSMA AGM in Galway last night, general secretary Fr Dan O’Connor called on Education Minister Noel Dempsey to secure funding. “Each diocese will now have to carry the financial burden of training boards this year. At a time when legislation demands so much from a board and department regulations are constantly changing, it’s unacceptable that the entire process has been left to the management associations,” he said.

A Department of Education spokesperson said management bodies were told not to plan any training based on assumptions of funding. However, he said, money will be provided this year but the amount has yet to be decided.

Fr O’Connor also said it was unfair to leave religious education and formation of pupils to teachers. A recent INTO report pointed out that, while teachers are still willing to be involved, they could not do this work alone.