Half of schools rely on parents’ handouts

Half of primary schools are now dependent on contributions from parents to balance the books.

The perilous financial state of school budgets has been revealed amid warnings that further cuts in next month’s budget would be “devastating”.

After the Department of Education imposed a 5% cut in grants for day-to-day running costs in 2011, a survey commissioned by the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association revealed that 46% of schools were in debt last year.