After a particularly harrowing adult suicide in west Tallaght, the bewildered bereaved did not gather in a parish hall, community centre or even a family home. They came to the local primary school. The staff made tea, cried with them, helped to organise the funeral and printed the Mass booklets.
Primary schools play roles far beyond education, particularly in deprived communities.
One of the staff who comforted the bereaved is now a principal. She sometimes cannot sleep for worrying. If she paid all the bills on her desk, she could not open the school. She told me she recently had to check if there was enough money in the bank to pay a supplier’s small bill because if not, she could not order toilet paper. Her school serves children coming to school already bearing the weight of generations of poverty. She used to be able to afford an art therapist, music teacher and counsellor for a few hours a week. No longer. She has cut back the cleaning, the heating and restricted after-school clubs. Trips and treats are out of the question.
She is not alone. A principal in a nearby school cleans the offices himself because he cannot afford a cleaner. He cites decades of underfunding, followed by Covid-19 and then rampant inflation. Even though they receive a Deis grant, it is nowhere near enough.
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Funding for Irish primary schools is Byzantine. The primary Financial Services Support Unit lists 12 different streams of funding, some of which are ring-fenced for specific things such as ICT.
The timing of grants is arcane and no longer as predictable as it once was. They may be delayed, reduced or, occasionally, not paid. There is still bitterness about a promised ICT grant for 2022-2023 that never materialised. The basic capitation grant per primary student was recently restored to 2009 levels at €200 per child. That’s €1.09 per child per day.
The Catholic Primary School Managers’ Association(CPSMA) recently published research by economist David J Higgins showing that while households experienced inflation levels of roughly 25 per cent since 2010, schools faced 35 per cent inflation in running costs. Heating and lighting have increased by 139 per cent. A typical household budget expends 7 per cent on energy but a school pays 14 per cent. The top five costs for schools have nothing to do with education but just keeping the buildings heated, lighted, clean, safe and insured.
Primary schools need at least parity with secondary schools – that is, €345 in basic capitation, but €400 for both would be closer to what is needed
After a demographic bulge, many schools are experiencing a drop in numbers. The bills don’t decrease for heating and lighting but the capitation grant drops in line with student numbers. The Government has acknowledged the difficulties by awarding once-off cost-of-living grants. But this only papers over the cracks in the foundations. Schools cannot afford to carry out their core mission – education.
A primary principal in a south Dublin Deis gave the example of how the new maths curriculum is based on playfulness in learning. Almost all of the hands-on tools or manipulatives that make mathematical concepts concrete and visual are expensive.
But when the money for water and refuse disposal charges are hard to find, never mind repairs to a decaying building, these resources are completely inaccessible.
Better-off areas can fundraise. The same principal told me she almost wept when she heard of a school raising €7,000 from a Halloween disco. She would be lucky to raise €500. But chances are that even in the more privileged school, finances are tight.
A CPSMA survey found that seven out of 10 schools ran a deficit last year. Another principal told me that his small rural school without Deis funding is completely reliant on parents.
Recently, 30 local people painted the building but he is now wondering how he will replace the playground tarmac. They cannot afford a caretaker and he has added amateur plumbing to his skill set. All the recent education funding announcements were parent-pleasers, like free hot school meals and books. They are all worthwhile, but surely subsistence funding should also receive priority. What is the point of a free lunch if principals and parents then have to fundraise for basics?
The funding shortfall is happening alongside Health Service Executive recruitment challenges that have left educational assessment, speech and language therapy and mental health services overstretched and dysfunctional. When one principal helped a parent of a nine-year-old apply last year for an autism assessment, they were told that the local services were still working through the 2016-2017 list.
It does not take maths manipulatives to work out that some of these children will have left primary school without ever accessing much-needed help, leading to intractable problems later. No matter what our political affiliation, or whether we have children, every election candidate should be challenged regarding school funding. Primary schools need at least parity with secondary schools – that is, €345 in basic capitation, but €400 for both would be closer to what is needed. Our schools are being punished for being caring and competent, for getting things done with funding levels that would cause Michael O’Leary to throw his hands up and declare bankruptcy.