Secondary schools relying on parents to prop up finances, says managerial body

Many secondary schools were forced to rely on parental contributions and charges to avoid running deficits last year, according to an analysis of schools’ end-of-year accounts.

The Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents about 500 voluntary secondary schools – typically those run or owned by religious organisations – said the reliance on parents for propping up school finances was “degrading” for schools and families.

It said the funding gap highlights the need for a new approach to ensure the long-term “stability and viability” of second-level schools.

An analysis of year-end accounts for 2023 for one school patron body found that approximately 55 per cent of their schools would have been in the red were it not for parental payments. The JMB said it believes this analysis is applicable across the entire sector.

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Average parental “voluntary contributions” are around €101 per year at primary level and €140 at secondary level, according to latest research by Barnardos.

Nationally, the Department of Education estimates that these contributions are worth about €30 million a year, based on Department of Education data in 2021.

These figures, however, generally exclude the costs facing parents for uniforms, devices and school charges such as photocopying fees and art materials.

Minister for Education Norma Foley has said parental contributions must be on a voluntary basis only and pointed to the Education Act, which states that no fee can be charged for the provision of education under the curriculum.

Charities, on the other hand, say that although voluntary contributions are not mandatory, many feel compelled to pay them. There is also, say many, a grey area between voluntary contributions and mandatory charges.

In its pre-budget submission, the JMB says future historians will look back on the “anachronistic practice” of schools having to seek voluntary contributions from parents to offset the deficit in their State funding as a “bewildering phenomenon”.

“One report after another, one agency after another, cites the practice as pressuring and degrading both for families and for the schools who must approach them for such support,” it states.

It said there is now “ample evidence” from new ESRI research into voluntary schools which flags an “institutionalised, embedded funding deficit” and the consequent struggle to keep schools operating by resorting to parental contributions.

The JMB has called for a three-year policy to be agreed at Government level to eliminate the need for schools in its sector to seek voluntary contributions from families.

Meanwhile, it said significant inflationary pressures have been impacting on school budgets in recent years and it is urging, as an immediate measure, the index-linking of all capitation grants to inflation to allow schools to meet their financial obligations and to engage in effective resource management.

“The JMB would welcome an opportunity to engage with the Department of Education in developing a comprehensive approach to funding, ensuring the stability and viability of voluntary secondary schools in the long term while also removing the undoubted pressure on parents,” it said.

[ Parents pay €54m to plug holes in finances of primary schools - report ]

The JMB annual conference, which takes place in Killarney this week, is due to be addressed by Minister for Education Norma Foley on Friday morning.

Ms Foley has said that this year’s education budget is the largest on record and includes funding for free schoolbooks for Junior Cycle students, which will reduce costs for the parents of more than 213,000 students.

In addition, she said this year’s budget includes a “permanent” restoration of basic capitation rates for schools to €200 per student at primary level and to €345 in post-primary schools. These rates were cut during the last economic downturn.

In addition, Ms Foley has said the Government is supporting schools this year with inflationary pressures with an additional €60 million in cost-of-living supports which are being paid to all primary and post-primary schools in the free scheme.

The JMB has also called on the Minister to help tackle teacher supply pressures by reconfiguring the two-year professional Master of Education qualification – which replaced the old HDip – to allow trainee teachers to have access to paid placements, as is the case with other professional development pathways such as nursing.

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