Circular
0001/2024
Cost of living measure to support increased school running costs in 2024
Published on
Minister for Education Norma Foley TD has announced that recognised primary and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme will benefit from €40 million in additional funding in 2024.
It is the second tranche of an overall additional €60 million fund provided for in Budget 2024 to assist schools with increased day-to-day running costs such as heating and electricity. The first €20 million tranche of the fund was paid to schools last October.
The amount paid to schools from the latest €40 million tranche of funding will be based on the number of pupils enrolled in a school. A primary school with 60 students will get €1,980, while this will rise to €19,800 for a primary school with 600 students.
Similarly, the latest cost-of-living grants will be worth €10,000 to post-primary schools with 200 pupils and will rise to €80,000 for post-primary schools with 1,600 pupils.
Minister Norma Foley TD said: “As Minister for Education, a key priority of mine in Budget 2024 was to ensure additional supports for schools to assist them in the face of inflationary pressures with rising day-to-day running costs. I am pleased today to announce that a further €40 million in funding is being provided to support all recognised primary and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme.”
The Department of Education provides funding to all recognised schools in the free education scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the Capitation grant to cater for day to day running costs including heating and lighting and the Ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff.
In addition, permanent core funding of €21 million announced in Budget 2024 is supporting a permanent restoration of funding for all recognised primary and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme. This will bring the basic rate of capitation to €200 per student in primary schools and to €345 in post-primary schools.
Sector: C&C, ETB, Primary, Post-primary
Author: External Staff Relations