Labour has called on the Government to treble State funding for primary schools, claiming that the current funding was "totally inadequate" for the purposes of paying everyday bills. Arthur Beesley reports.
The party's education spokeswoman, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, called for a new annual "block grant" to meet administrative and maintenance expenses. Non-teaching staff, such as caretakers and secretaries, should be paid directly by the Department of Education, she said.
The block grant would be paid at different rates, according to the needs of schools in line with a benchmark study, she said.
Ms O'Sullivan also called for an increase in and index-linking of the capitation grant to recognise the increases in the cost of classroom materials and equipment, schoolbooks and other per capita costs incurred by primary schools.
She said the payment by instalment of the capitation grant should be reviewed to assess whether a single annual payment at the beginning of the school term would be more beneficial than a number of individual payments throughout the school year.
Ms O'Sullivan said a Labour party survey in the sector identified insurance as the biggest financial burden on primary schools.