Parents are growing more angry and frustrated at the amounts of money they have to raise to pay for the running costs of our primary schools.

Parents and Principals have come together in an attempt to address the issue of the underfunding of Ireland’s primary school system. The first phase of this collaboration is a survey of parents' views on the funding of their child’s primary education. 

This survey, conducted by the National Parents Council, Primary (NPC) and the Irish Primary Principal’s Network (IPPN), has highlighted the significant financial contribution parents are required to make to ensure their children can have access to education.

“The results of this survey clearly demonstrate the level of anger and frustration that is being experienced by parents of children in the primary education system, regarding the cost of sending their child to school.” said Áine Lynch of NPC.

“The results show that while primary education is supposed to be free, parents have to contribute significant amounts to keep schools running, and parents can feel pressurised to contribute money that they cannot afford.”

The survey was conducted online at www.educationopinion.ie and www.npc.ie over the past number of weeks. 

The main findings of the survey are:

• 98% of parents have an expectation that the state should pay the full operating costs of primary schools. However, 90% say that their Parents Associations fundraise to cover running costs of the school, and 31% raise in excess of 10,000 euro each year.
• 74% of parents surveyed are asked for a voluntary contribution every year; 10% say they can easily afford to pay this; worryingly, 35% of parents say they have difficulty paying the contribution or feel they cannot afford to pay it all; 45% of parents say that this contribution is not anonymous and that they feel pressurised to pay it. 
• 93% of parents feel that schools shouldn’t have to pay water charges; 99% of parents feel that the cost of water charges should not fall to parents to cover.

“Principals are deeply concerned at the amounts of money that we have to ask parents to contribute to keep the school running and to provide educational resources and equipment in classrooms. 

”It is not the job of a principal to organise fund-raising or to look for voluntary contributions from parents to keep the ship afloat. If the service is not to be free, then at least we should be honest about it and impose a levy or charge openly on parents for their children to attend school. Pretending that education is free and perpetuating this myth while parents contribute millions to keep the doors open and the lights on is a national disgrace.” said Seán Cottrell, Director IPPN. 

Over 3,000 parents responded to the online survey on www.educationopinion.ie and on www.npc.ie. The survey is open for further opinions and views until the end of March and both NPC and IPPN encourage parents with children in primary schools to take part.

Based on the results of this survey, NPC and IPPN will decide on how to progress this important issue further. (Sources: IPPN and NPCp)