Private schools say fees would double if State funding is withdrawn for sector

Private schools have warned they would have to double their fees or face potential closure under proposals to withdraw State funding for the sector.

Sinn Féin’s pledge to remove State funding worth €111 million a year has sparked alarm among fee-charging schools, with plans being drawn up to fight the Irish School Heads’ Association – which represents most fee-charging Protestant schools – has been meeting over recent weeks to form a joint campaign to highlight what principals say would be “discriminatory” treatment.

Some principals are exploring legal options and argue that the Constitution enshrines the right of parents to a choice of school for their children, especially those from a minority faith background.

Public funding goes towards paying the salaries of the majority of teachers and special needs assistants in fee-charging schools.

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A number of schools estimate fees would climb from about €7,000-€8,000 to about €15,000 if this State funding was removed.

A Sinn Féin spokesman confirmed it was the party’s policy to “phase out State subsidies to fee-paying schools over a number of years”.

“With regards to minority faith schools, we would of course work closely with them to safeguard their future,” he said.

“There are already minority faith schools that are not fee-paying, and they are themselves perfectly sustainable; there’s no reason to believe that the future of all minority faith schools could not be safeguarded within the public-funded system, and we would work with them to see that to fruition.”

Private schools are also concerned over their reduced access to funding grants over recent years under successive governments.

Compared with the “free sector”, fee-charging schools receive fewer State-funded teachers, reduced guidance and counselling allocations and did not automatically get Covid-19 supports.

Teachers are allocated at a ratio of one for every 19 students in “free” secondary schools, compared with one for every 23 students in the fee-charging sector.

The policy was first introduced as a cost-cutting measure in 2009.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said what differentiates fee-charging schools from others was their capacity to raise funds through mandatory fees, while also being in receipt of exchequer funding.

The funding provided to fee-charging schools recognises that if the parents of children in the fee-charging sector chose to send their children to the non-fee-charging sector, the State would have to fund those school places, the spokesman said.

Of the €111 million in funding for private schools last year, the vast bulk went on staff salaries. A total of €4 million was provided for Covid supports – such as enhanced cleaning and personal protective equipment (PPE) – which was available on application if schools demonstrated a need for it.

Latest enrolment and admission statistics show most private schools, especially those in the Dublin area, are heavily oversubscribed and have long waiting lists for places.

While numbers slipped during the recession, with some private schools opting to enter the free education scheme, enrolments in the fee-paying sector are back at levels last seen during the economic boom.

St Columba's in Dublin remains the most expensive day school in the country, at €9,174 this year. It is followed by Sutton Park, Dublin 13 (€7,995); Cistercian College in Roscrea (€7,850); Alexandra College, Dublin 6 (€7,685); St Gerard's, Bray, Co Wicklow (€7,590); and the King's Hospital, Co Dublin (€7,550).