THE Minister for Education has put forward more than 60 amendments to her much-criticised Education Bill which goes into committee stage tomorrow.
Ms Breathnach has raised the age at which students can appeal school decisions from 16 to 18 and limited the kind of decision open to appeal. She has also, scrapped the ministerial power to freeze funds to schools which do not appoint approved boards of management. The former provision was strongly attacked by the teacher unions as a recipe for chaos and endless legal wrangling.
Under the amended Bill, the composition of school boards of management must be agreed between the patrons or owners, national parents' bodies, teacher unions and the Minister.
The powers of the patrons - most of them religious bodies - have been strengthened and made explicit throughout the Bill. For example, the functions and powers conferred on a patron by any deed, charter or article of management have been explicitly recognised in its amended form. Boards of management will now be "accountable to the patron" for upholding a school's "characteristic ethic".
The churches will also be happy with several amendments which specifically provide for the promotion of the moral and spiritual development of students and allow "reasonable" time for religious instruction.
A carefully worded new clause balances the rights of parents to send their children to a school of their choice with the constitutional rights of others, including denominational schools.
School boards of management are given the sole power to suspend or dismiss teachers in accordance with procedures agreed with the Minister, the patron and the recognised teacher union.
There will be no role here for the proposed education boards.
The teacher unions will be pleased with amendments requiring that they, together with the other education partners, will have to be consulted on matters such as school inspection and the length of the school year.
The general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, Mr Charlie Lennon, said that while some of the Bill's worst aspects had been amended, the proposed education boards, which would deprive schools of "much needed funding", remained intact.