One of the oldest fee-paying schools goes free

One of the country’s oldest fee-paying schools says government cutbacks and pressure on families have forced it to enter the free education system from next September.

Student numbers at Kilkenny College, one of a number of schools to have held talks with the Department of Education about such a move, fell from a peak of more than 800 until 2008 to 764 today.

They include about 430 boarding students. Roughly 75% of its students come from Church of Ireland and other Protestant communities.

The tuition fees of €4,100 have not increased in recent years but the school, with origins dating back to 1538, said falling incomes and rising taxes made it harder for families to send their children to the only Church of Ireland secondary school in the South-East.

In addition, teacher cuts over and above those at other second-level schools have meant fewer teachers at Kilkenny College and others have been paid by the department.

“The danger for us would have been that we would be driven to charging higher fees and elitism. So, in a sense, we’re getting back to our key mission statement, and what we were doing before 2008,” said college principal Ian Coombes.

He said the school should be able to retain its staff numbers between the entitlement to salaries of increased teachers in the free education system, and an expectation that student numbers will return to those of previous years. He said there had already been big demand for enrolment information since the change was announced earlier yesterday.

The Department of Education only pays the salaries of one mainstream tea-cher for every 21 pupils in fee-paying secondary schools, unlike the 19:1 pupil-teacher ratio for all others, but that will rise to a 23:1 ratio from September.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is under pressure from the Labour grassroots for more significant cuts to the schools’ €100m annual public funding.

He said in December that about five fee-paying schools, including Protestant and Catholic schools, had made inquiries about moving to the free education system and a similar number are believed to be in continuing talks with his department.

A spokesperson for Mr Quinn said yesterday that the department was open to having discussions in strict confidence with any other fee-paying school which may be considering how best to continue to provide education to its pupils.

“The minister and the Government are committed to supporting the provision of education by schools with a Protestant ethos in order to meet the needs of their communities,” said the spokesperson.

“In that context, the minister welcomes this decision by Kilkenny College which demonstrates it sees its future is best secured through participation in the free scheme.”