Offaly School Principal frustrated with funding of primary school education

PRINCIPAL of Seir Kieran’s NS, Jonathan Dunne has expressed his frustration at where political focus is when it comes to the funding of primary school education.

He said; “Like fourteen other primary schools in Offaly, this week we have received notification that we as a school have been successful in our application to have hot meals made available to all our children for the upcoming school year. On the face of it, this all seems very welcome, a school like ours receiving over €40,000 next year to provide each of our children with a hot meal during the school day.”

Mr Dunne went on to explain that there is a dire funding situation in primary schools at present. He said “The simple reality is, schools like ours are on the ground when it comes to receiving funding to run the school. Take a simple example, we as a school receive absolutely no funding to pay for caretaking services. We are completely reliant on the good will of people to volunteer to do jobs for us and receive no payment in return to maintain the school.

“Also, the general grant funding mechanism the department has in place is completely failing schools like ours. The Department also claims to support schools like ours with budgeting advice but the advice the are offering is completely impractical and many parts of the Department are not linked up, to support schools at the cold face,” he stated.

Mr Dunne explained that, in his case, he has lots of priority areas where €40,000 per annum could be spent. “Take for example our perimeter fencing or outdoor garden space for children with needs, what we as a school could do with money like this or a fraction of it, to provide a better learning environment for our children. The improvements this could bring to our school environment would be most beneficial for all children. The simple reality though is we are not in a position to do so, despite all the money the Department has at its disposal.”

Mr Dunne concluded; “Like all schools, we will take what is on offer, in this case a meal’s grant to roll out hot meals for the children in our school. I really though have to ask the question is that a real priority in a school like ours? Yes, I’m sure some parents will welcome it but from what I am hearing from many other schools already participating in this scheme, there are a lot of questions around the nutritional value of some of these school meals and around food waste resulting from children not eating the food in some cases.

“I am sceptical that all politicians – government and non-government - are only interested in trying to impress parents with this initiative. All these politicians might be better served by really looking at how poorly primary education is funded at present and putting a real focus on helping schools pay their bills and how schools could be funded in a practical sense to improve the school learning environment, instead of latching onto what I see to be populist initiatives such as this free school meal scheme. The school meal scheme may have been well merited in disadvantaged areas, but I don’t believe it to be a necessary spend in schools like ours, over the provision of real funding. I certainly remain to be convinced by it’s merits over funding in other sectors of primary education.

“ There is a financial crash on the horizon for many schools if those in Dáil Eireann and the decision makers in the Department of Education don’t wake up soon, to how poorly primary schools are funded at present. The only thing that is keeping the doors of primary schools open at present are fundraising initiatives, contributions which are given by parents and the dedicated volunteerism of all those who give of their time so selflessly to do work for schools for nothing. The political establishment would want to gain a firm understanding of this before giving the okay to spend millions on free meal schemes in schools across the country while failing to properly fund these schools,” said Mr Dunne.

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