Private schools increase fees amid ‘exclusion’ from State funding

Private secondary schools say they are being forced to increase fees due to their “exclusion” from emergency State funding aimed at cushioning soaring energy costs.

Most of the 50 fee-charging secondary schools in the State have increased their tuition charges by anywhere between 5 and 15 per cent this year, and some warn that much bigger hikes are due next year.

Last October the Government announced a “once-off” €90 million fund – or a 40 per cent increase in capitation – to help schools meet the rising cost of heating and electricity bills. Private schools are not automatically eligible for this additional funding.

The Department of Education has argued that private schools have access to financial reserves which other schools do not. In addition, it has said the fee-charging sector receives more than €110 million a year from the State in the form of salaries for teachers, special needs assistants and other grants.

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However, principals in the fee-charging sector argue that this is the latest in a series of policy decisions to provide lower levels of funding to private schools which began in 2009. While teachers are provided by the State at a rate of one teacher for every 19 pupils, it rises to one teacher for every 23 pupils in the fee-charging sector. They also receive reduced guidance and counselling allocations, and are ineligible for a range of capital grants.

Fee-charging schools were initially denied access to recent Covid grant funding to help make schools safer but were later permitted to join on a case-by-case basis following controversy over the decision.

The Joint Managerial Body, which represents voluntary secondary schools, said it is engaging with the department on the matter of funding for energy costs. It argues that fee-charging schools are a “long-standing and successful example of public-private partnership, are a net contributor to the economy”, in a recent submission to the department, and is seeking an end to the “adverse” treatment of the sector.

An Irish Times survey shows St Columba’s in Dublin is the most expensive private secondary school (€9,632), followed by Cistercian College in Roscrea, Co Tipperary (€8,265); Sutton Park, Dublin 13 (€7,995); Alexandra College, Dublin 6 (€7,992); and The King’s Hospital’s School, Co Dublin (€7,930).

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Mark Boobbyer, warden of St Columba’s, said his school was one of many forced to increase fees this year. “I’m sure that other schools are the same, they would desperately like to keep their fees down but at the end of the day the only way to cover the costs is to pass them on. No one can avoid it,” he said.

Any further deterioration in funding for the sector, such as lower capitation rates for teachers, would have significant consequences. “In a place like Columba’s we get money for our teachers, but that’s the only thing we get money for. We don’t get money for a secretary, we don’t get money for cleaners, we don’t get money for maintenance, we don’t get money for running our buildings, we don’t get money for anything at all apart from the teachers.”

Separately, both Sinn Féin and Labour have pledged to end State subsidies for the State’s 50 fee-charging schools, which amounted to €111 million in 2021. Privately principals say this would lead to a dramatic increase in fees or more fee-charging schools joining the “free” sector.