School building fund and education capital slashed by 33%

SPENDING on school buildings and other education capital is being slashed by one-third over the next four years — down to less than €500 million a year.

The Department of Education is already under pressure to spend its €712m capital budget for this year, with only €465m of its €578m allocation for schools spent to date. The €492m set aside for next year is the first tranche of a €1.9 billion capital budget up to 2014 and compares to a €2.9bn allocation in the past four years.

But Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said the funding would allow her department meet the building needs to match rising pupil numbers as well as improvements to existing schools, thanks to falling land values and tender prices.

Her department is expected to save €229m across its entire budget next year and €690m by 2014 but she said the Government has gone as far as it could to protect frontline education services.

While the numbers employed in the education sector will increase from 93,700 this year to almost 96,000 in four years, largely due to rising teacher numbers, Ms Coughlan was urged by the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) to ensure no further increases to pupil teacher ratios which were protected in last year’s revised programme for government.

“Our schools were at the bottom of the funding league in the boom years. Every parent must now be concerned about how this [plan] will impact on teaching and learning in the classroom,” said ASTI general secretary Pat King.

The emphasis on protecting education was also stressed by Green Party leader John Gormley, but one element of the education package his colleagues secured in that deal a year ago has fallen, with the deferral of an extra 150 teachers due to have gone into primary and second level schools next September. They are among 1,200 teaching posts being withdrawn next year across a range of programmes, which will see 400 fewer public service employees in education in 2011.

Labour Party education spokesperson Ruairi Quinn said the national recovery plan shows funding for the sector will suffer immensely in the next four years.

“Each time this government rolls out its latest wave of cutbacks, they claim they do so with a heavy heart and that they have somehow managed to protect the vulnerable. Their actions speak louder than words,” he said.

The Irish Primary Principals Network said the most disturbing cuts are in the numbers of specialist teachers working with children from disadvantaged backgrounds or with special needs. “It will be impossible to deliver the current standard of education provision with the scale of these cutbacks,” said IPPN director Sean Cottrell.