On October 14, the Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe outlined the detail of the 2009 Budget provision for his Department, saying "tough choices" had to be made in meeting the needs of the sector in difficult economic times.

• The gross allocation for the Department of Education and Science is €9.6 billion - an increase of €302 million, or 3.2 per cent, on last year's allocation.

“In framing this Budget, the Government faced very difficult choices. However, the increase for the Department of Education and Science reflects the Government's commitment to prioritising investment in the sector in very difficult economic circumstances,” Minister O’Keeffe said.

• The capital allocation for next year will amount to €889 million - an increase of €79 million, or almost 10 per cent, on the 2008 allocation.

“This will allow me to continue to significantly invest in school buildings throughout the country, to provide additional school places and to refurbish existing schools, as well as investing in higher education infrastructure including strategic research programmes under the Government's Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation,” Minister O’Keeffe said.

• Funding restrictions will see an increase in class sizes.

Minister O'Keeffe acknowledged the impact of funding restrictions in a number of areas, saying they were the inevitable result of the more challenging economic environment and the need to prudently manage Exchequer resources.

“The resources available to me next year mean that difficult choices had to be made in order to try to meet the full range of needs in the education sector.

“While teachers and special needs assistants have been exempted from the general 3 per cent payroll cut across the public sector, a number of measures had to be taken in the education sector, including increasing class sizes from next September, to help contain public sector pay while providing for demographic and other changes,” the Minister said.  

• Estimate provides for increases in capitation for schools.

This means that a primary school's capitation and ancillary grants will increase by €25 per pupil to €355. For a voluntary secondary school, the capitation and school support services grants will increase by €22 per pupil.

• A number of specialist grants have been abolished.

The general capitation increases are aimed at giving schools maximum flexibility in how they use their grant allocation.

• €10 million has been allocated to the Department of Education and Science to further enhance services to children with special needs pending the implementation of the EPSEN Act.

As part of this investment, the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) will expand to cover all schools in the country by the end of 2009. In the past academic year, national coverage by NEPS was provided to 60 per cent of schools.

“In the more challenging period ahead for the Irish economy, it will be necessary for us to continue to target and prioritise our resources to maximum effect across the education sector. I would ask all the education partners for their co-operation in working with me through the challenges we now face together,” said Minister O'Keeffe.

• Agency rationalisation will take place in the education sector.

“The proposals for agency rationalisation are logical and appropriate. In the case of the qualifications bodies, I will immediately be working with those concerned to work out the practical details. The amalgamated body will allow us to build on the internationally recognised strength that has been developed across our qualifications and quality assurance systems,” said Minister O'Keeffe.

MAIN ESTIMATE FEATURES

CAPITAL

• Capital allocation of €889m is an increase of €80m on the allocation for 2008. 
• This includes an allocation of €581m for the schools capital programme compared to €586m in 2008. 
• This will allow the Department to complete 26 major projects and start construction on another 62 major projects. It will allow completion of 100 smaller projects on site and allow another 80 projects previously approved to progress to completion.
• At third level, €265m, an increase of 44pc over the 2008 estimate, is being provided. This will allow for continuing investment in core undergraduate facilities, as well as expansion of research capacity and capabilities under the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation.
• Provision has also been made in the capital allocation for the continuation of the Department’s public-private partnership programme. 

TEACHERS’ SALARIES AND PENSION COSTS

• The net pay bill for teachers’ salaries and pensions will increase by almost €300m as a result of a combination of pay increases and the full-year costs of the salaries of teachers appointed this September.

CLASS SIZE INCREASED

• The mechanism which will be used to allocate classroom teachers to primary schools is the staffing schedule and, with effect from September 2009, the enrolment bands will be based on an average of 28 pupils per class rather than the current 27 pupils per class. 
• In the case of post-primary schools, the allocation basis will be altered by one point with effect from September 2009 from the current 18 to 1 basis to a revised basis of 19 to 1. 
• In the case of fee-charging post-primary schools, there will be an additional one-point adjustment. 

FEWER TEACHERS

• Overall, the number of primary and post-primary teachers in schools in September 2009 is projected to be about 200 fewer in each sector compared to September 2008.
• The ceiling of two on the number of language support teachers per school is being re-imposed, with some alleviation for the position of those schools where there is a significant concentration of newcomer pupils as a proportion of the overall pupil enrolment. 
• Arrangements will also be made for the withdrawal of teacher posts which have been historically provided under previous disadvantage schemes to non-DEIS schools.

TEACHER SUBSTITUTION ARRANGEMENTS

• Substitution cover will be suspended from January 2009 for absences arising from uncertified sick leave in all schools, as well as for school business absences in post-primary schools.

EARLY RETIREMENT SCHEME

• This pilot scheme is being suspended with immediate effect.

SCHOOL FUNDING

• Improvements are being made to the rates of capitation funding available to schools. The combined value is €20m.

In the case of primary schools:

• The increased financial provision will provide for an increase of €21.42 in the standard capitation, bringing the rate to €200 per pupil. This equates to an increase of almost 12pc on the existing €178.58 grant rate.  
• The increase further builds on the progress made in recent years that has seen the primary school capitation grant increased from €81.26 per pupil in 2000 to this new rate of €200 per pupil. This will represent an increase of 146pc in the standard rate of capitation grant since 2000. 
• The ancillary grant will be increased from €151.50 per pupil to €155 per pupil.

In the case of post-primary schools:

• An increase of €14 per pupil in the capitation grant is a 4.3pc increase on 2008.
• The capitation grant will now stand at €345 per pupil.
• There will be an increase of €8 per capita in the equalisation measure payable to voluntary secondary schools, giving a total increase, when capitation and school support services grants are combined, of €22 per pupil.

ABOLITION IN 2009 OF CERTAIN GRANTS PAID TO SCHOOLS

In the case of primary schools: 

• The separate cookery grant, resource grant for language support teachers and equipment grant for resource teachers are being abolished. The total value of these grants was €2m.
• A further €4.3m is being saved by the reduction in capitation funding for Travellers and withdrawal of certain capitation funding from schools that are not in the DEIS programme but had continued to receive top-up funding originally provided under previous disadvantage initiatives.

In the case of post-primary schools:

• A number of separate grant payments to second-level schools are being abolished. These are grants for Choirs and Orchestras, Home Economics, Physics and Chemistry, Junior Certificate Schools Programme, Leaving Certificate Applied, LCVP and Transition Year. The total saving will be €5.35m.
• A further €2m is being saved by a reduction in capitation funding for Travellers and withdrawal of certain capitation funding from schools that are not in the DEIS programme but had continued to receive top-up funding originally provided under previous disadvantage initiatives.

In the case of fee-charging second-level schools:

• An anomalous situation has existed whereby fee-charging schools under Catholic patronage were not in receipt of certain grants, including the support services grant, which were paid to other fee-charging schools. This position is being regularised. All fee-charging schools will be treated on a similar basis resulting in a saving of €2.8m. The Protestant block grant remains in place.

AID FOR SCHOOL BOOKS

• A saving of €7.5m will result by restricting aid for school books to DEIS schools. A fund of €7m will be available for distribution to schools in the DEIS programme.
• Library grants: A saving of €2.19m will result from the cessation of funding that the Department made available to local authorities to support school library services.
• Support for summer courses in Irish colleges: The per capita subvention by the Department to summer courses conducted in Irish colleges (in Gaeltacht areas) is being withdrawn. The saving will be €1.25m. 
• Centre for Talented Youth: The Department has in the past provided an annual grant of €97,000 to the Centre for Talented Youth. This is being withdrawn.
• Grant for foreign qualified teachers attending Irish courses in the Gaeltacht: This grant is being withdrawn. The saving will be €200,000.

SPECIAL NEEDS

• Resource teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs) will continue to be deployed to meet the needs of children with special educational needs (SEN) at primary and post-primary levels. There is just over 19,000 staff working with special needs children.
• While in the light of the financial situation it is necessary to defer the implementation of the EPSEN Act, children with SEN will continue to have their SEN met on a non-statutory basis. 
• Further, provision is being made to improve these services through the allocation of an additional €10m which will fund enhanced measures for children with SEN pending the full implementation of the EPSEN Act.
• School psychologists: Some of this €10 million will contribute to a 33% increase in expenditure on the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), resulting in all schools having a service by the end of 2009. 
• There is an increase of €40 million to cover the full-year costs of additional SNAs in the system this September, provision for additional posts next September, and full-year cost of pay increases awarded.

HIGHER EDUCATION

• The current estimates provision for higher education is €1,844m, compared with a 2008 estimate of €1,887m.
• There will be an increase in the student registration charge from €900 to up to €1,500 in individual institutions for the academic year 2009/2010. Third-level students entitled to a student support grant will remain exempt from paying the student registration charge.
• There will be restrictions in the implementation of approved projects under the Strategic Innovation Fund.
• The planned 2009 increases in medical education places will be deferred.
• There will be restrictions in the volume of awards made by the two Research Councils (Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology and Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences). 
• There is no provision for increases in student maintenance grants.

ADULT AND FURTHER EDUCATION

• The non-pay grant provision for adult and further education shows a reduction of €8.5m, or just under 5 per cent, on the 2008 estimate. 
• There will be a reduction in the provision of 500 places on the Back to Education Initiative – reducing the total number of places to 9,000.   
• There will be a reduction by about 100 in the number of places provided in Senior Traveller Training Centres – there are currently 1,084 places provided.
• Allowances to participants in VTOS, Youthreach and Senior Traveller Training Centres will be increased in line with the appropriate social welfare rates or FAS trainee allowances.

YOUTH

• There will be a reduction in grants for youth services of just over 8pc - from €52.6m to €48.2m.

TEACHER EDUCATION

• The provision for teacher in-service education support is €28.8m, compared with a 2008 estimate of €33.8m. 
• There will be a reduction in teacher secondments to in-service and, while it will be possible to continue to provide a wide range of services to teachers, the reduced allocation will mean that programmes that are not in an expansionary or prioritised phase will have to be curtailed to a degree.

SCHOOL TRANSPORT

• The provision for school transport is €196m, compared with a 2008 figure of €175m. 
• The annual post-primary school transport charge will increase from €168 for junior cycle children and €234 for senior cycle children (payable on a term-to-term basis) to a single annual fee of €300 for eligible post-primary children, first payable in summer 2009.
• The maximum amount payable per single family, regardless of the number of children using the school transport system, will be €650 annually. Eligible children in families who hold a medical card or children with special needs are exempt from the charges.

REDUCTION IN DEPARTMENT’S REGIONAL OFFICE SERVICE

• The 26 per cent reduction reflects the intention to rationalise and prioritise some services and to seek efficiencies in the operation of the Department’s regional office network.
• Fee increases will be required across the State Examinations Commission (SEC), Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC) and Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC). SEC will increase fees by 8 per cent.

RATIONALISATION OF BODIES

• The National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, HETAC and FETAC will be amalgamated. 
• The new organisation will also take responsibility for the external quality assurance review of the universities - a function currently performed by the Irish Universities Quality Board and the Higher Education Authority. 
• In seeking to ensure a coherent approach to qualifications and quality assurance, there will also be discussions with the National University of Ireland around the possibility of including some of the related functions of the NUI in the new organisation.

EARLY CHILDHOOD

• The Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education will be closed. The work of ensuring quality education provision within pre-school services will be led by the Early Years Education Policy Unit of the Department within the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. (Source: Department of Education)