Diarmaid Ferriter: There is an obvious solution to resented ‘voluntary’ school contributions

School principal “burnout” in Ireland has long been a staple of the education pages, the testimony of the principals themselves and the complaints of teachers’ unions. Earlier this year, veteran observer of the education scene Brian Mooney noted: “The position of school principal in the majority of Irish schools is beyond the capacity of any person to manage on their own.”

Many of them yearn to get back to the classroom, their enhanced salaries hardly compensating for their modern roles as managers, accountants, counsellors, social workers, mediators and even, during the Covid pandemic, health inspectors.

They are also, at this time of year, as well as desperate to fill far too many vacancies, sending letters to parents that are often deeply resented, insisting on payments for “essential services” as well as requesting “voluntary contributions.” Many parents understandably feel these are anything but voluntary and amount to a sort of moral expectation. Why not call them what they are: fees.

[ Parents pay €28m in ‘voluntary contributions’ to plug gaps in school finances ]

[ Your View: ‘If you don’t pay, there’s no locker or school journal’ ]

Minister for Education Norma Foley has asserted that: “No parent can be compelled to make a voluntary contribution to a school. I have to keep reiterating that because it is factual and provided for in the Education Act.” Her comments were made in the context of a Barnardo’s survey highlighting that average voluntary contributions this year are €101 at primary level and €143 at second level. Many are paying much larger amounts, more than €500 per child in some cases, according to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.

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A typical message from school principals this month reads: “essential service charge — due from all students: €250″. A voluntary contribution per family of €250 is also often requested; there are additional fees listed for art materials, field trips, workshops and mock exam fees, collectively amounting to more than €300; and if a student is in transition year, an extra €400 on top of that. These are before school transport costs, where relevant, and school uniforms.

Schools say they have no alternative to these demands as they do not receive enough State funding to meet everyday expenses. What this amounts to is double taxation; it also completely undermines the veracity of the meaning of “free education”.

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Barnardos has been highlighting this problem for 19 years and its survey for this year reiterates long-standing sentiments: “74% of primary and 78% of secondary school parents said that their schools requested a voluntary contribution ... Over two-thirds of parents (67%) said that it did not feel voluntary. Four in five secondary school parents (80%) and two thirds of primary school parents (68%) said that parents should not have to pay it. Some parents stated that they are worried that not paying the fee could some way end up negatively affecting their child. Others suggested it means that children go without things such as journals and lockers, essential elements of school life.”

The solution is obvious and would not be exorbitantly expensive. It is the Department of Education itself that provided data relating to 2021 suggesting about €30 million a year was being paid in voluntary contributions to make up for funding shortfalls. How can it stand over that when the department announced the same year an overall “core investment” in the education system of more than €9 billion?

[ Have your say: how much are you paying for back to school costs? ]

[ Schools seeking ‘voluntary contributions’ of up to €350 from parents ]

The programme for government meekly asserted “we will seek to increase the capitation grant, with a view to reducing the reliance on voluntary contributions made to schools”. It is hardly a statement in keeping with the boldness or frankness of former minister for education Donogh O’Malley who in 1966 announced the transformative introduction of free secondary education.

What is required is an explicit commitment to getting rid of the need for “voluntary” contributions within a short time. It is especially galling that reliance on these contributions persists while the State continues to provide subsidies for fee-paying secondary schools. The contributions also reinforce class divisions in the Irish education system, given the great variations in the amounts levied and the extent to which all students can avail equally of extracurricular activities.

One-off capitation payments, used by the State to offset energy and heating costs for schools, need to be increased and embedded into the education budget. The progressive and welcome move to provide free schoolbooks at primary level needs to become the norm at both levels of schooling. School principals should not be placed in the invidious position of having to hound parents so they can keep their school afloat.

A core aim of education policy, constantly reiterated, is to tackle social disadvantage at an early stage; embedding free education in the real sense at both levels should be central to that. This is not just about funding and fairness to parents; it is about a demonstration of commitment to removing an unnecessary annual August storm of resentment and an unwarranted burden on those running schools.