School bus charges treble in just a year
Up to last Easter, the charge for second-level students up to Junior Certificate was €99 a year. The annual charge rose to €138 before the summer holidays and to €168 last month, but is now planned to go to €300 a year next summer.
The measure announced by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe in the budget has been given little attention up to now, but parents are fuming over what they see as a stealth charge.
“This is going to hit people in rural areas extremely hard, it’s just another tax on top of the 1% coming off our salaries next year,” said Frank McDaid, from Inver, Co Donegal.
His son, Brian, started first year at Abbey Vocational School in Donegal town last September, and travels the 16km journey every day on the school bus.
For Frank’s brother Denis, who lives across the road, the fare hike is a double-hit as his twin children, Brian and Kelly, also take the same bus every day, meaning a €600 bill. The pair are in second year at the school, and the annual charge when they started a year ago was just €200 between them.
“Mary Coughlan is our local TD and it’s unbelievable that someone like her, whose uncle and father were teachers, would let this and other education cuts get through the cabinet,” said Frank.
He is an officer of the National Parents Association for Vocational Schools and Community Colleges, which will be joining the protest against education cutbacks outside the Dáil on Wednesday.
A Labour party motion on Wednesday night and Thursday will call on the Government to reverse the controversial staffing cuts, which will lead to larger class sizes in all schools and restricted subject choices for second-level students.
Mr O’Keeffe, who returned from China on Saturday, will face severe pressure from many of his own Fianna Fáil backbenchers who have been hearing the concerns of parents and teachers over the weekend.
But he and Taoiseach Brian Cowen have insisted there will be no changes to education spending plans for next year, despite Government U-turns on the medical cards and the income levy for the low paid.
HERE are some 2009 budget cuts which Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe did not spell out last week:
* Schools Information and Communications Technology (ICT): €26.4 million (down 29% from €37.2m)
The Government promised in the National Development Plan to invest €252m on computers and technology for schools. But it will spend €8m less than this year on ICT capital and €2.9m less on the current side.
* National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA): €4.6m (down 2% from €4.7m)
The council advises the minister on changes to the primary and second level curriculum, aimed at making subjects more practical and of relevance to young people, such as the recently-launched Project Maths. Its budget cut might not restrict scheduled work in the next year, but vacancies might not be filled and its training of teachers on new syllabi could be impacted by changes to substitution payments for schools.
* National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB): €10m (down 1% from €10.1m)
The NEWB’s 95 welfare officers help address absenteeism and early school leaving, particularly in disadvantaged areas. Under the Towards 2016 social partnership deal agreed in 2006, the Government was to provide 100 extra staff to the NEWB and the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) but only 15 have so far been provided to the NEWB.
The cut will mean the board can not even keep up with wage inflation and vacancies will probably go unfilled, at the very least.
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