€3m budget cut crisis for VEC schools

MEATH"s vocational education system, already under pressure from burgeoning student numbers in the commuter belt, is facing a financial crisis as Government-ordered cutbacks threaten to slash €3 million from its budget for teachers" pay. The VEC, with 4,000 students in six colleges throughout the county, is also facing a €600,000 reduction in its block grant of €1.8 million. As part of the savings initiated by the Government as it tries to deal with the downturn in the economy, VECs throughout the country have been told they will have to take a three per cent reduction in their allocations in the 2008-09 school year. News of the cutbacks was imparted to Meath VEC members at a meeting on Monday by CEO Peter Kierans. The Meath system was expected to be granted an allocation of €25 million. However, the allocation is just over €22 million. VEC sources said that the cut in the allocation would mean that teachers could only be paid for 10 months of the school year. Cllr Joe Reilly, a member of Meath VEC, described the situation as 'a crisis' and called on the Government to 'reverse this crazy policy of cutbacks in the education system'. Dan Keane, a staff representative on the committee, said that the Department"s allocation seemed to be in line with 2006 figures. VEC members have now asked the CEO to appeal the decision to the Department of Education and Science on the basis that Meath is in the Dublin commuter belt. Student numbers in the vocational sector in Meath have been growing (up by 250 in 2007 and 250 this year) and a special case will be made that this factor alone should set it apart from other VEC areas. Cllr Reilly said that any cutback in financial allocation would put the VEC into an impossible situation. 'The cut of €3 million would leave us in a situation where teachers could only be paid for 10 months of the school year. There is no way you can make savings on teachers" pay, that is an impossibility. Irish people place a high premium on education and rightly so, and they will find it unacceptable that there should be cutbacks in what is a vital area,' he said. He added that all of the schools in the VEC system in Meath - Dunshaughlin, Dunboyne, Ratoath, Navan, Oldcastle and Nobber - had experienced increases in student numbers. 'The figures speak for themselves - an increase in numbers of 500 in two years. We need teachers to service that system and any possibility of cutting back in staffing would be totally out of the question,' he added. 'Equally, any question of raising a loan to make up for the shortfall in the Department"s allocation is also a non-runner. Loans have to be serviced and borrowing €3 million would only leave the VEC in a worse position.' On the question of a cut in the county"s block grant, Cllr Reilly said there would be a shortfall of €600,000 (down from €1.8 million to €1.2 million). 'The block grant is used for the day-to-day running of the colleges. Unless the Government reverses that, we would be forced into digging into our reserves but my understanding is that, even if we do that, we would still have a shortfall of €200,000. And I would not be very hopeful of the VEC going to some of our service providers, like the ESB for instance, to make a special case for reductions.' Staff representative Mr Keane said the VEC would be making an appeal to the Department in relation to funding. 'It is very difficult to know how this will go. It is impossible for the VEC to make savings in view of the increases in the numbers of students over the past two years. For instance, Ratoath is only three years in existence and it is still taking in students, while over at Laytown, we have 80 new students that we didn"t have before,' he added. Mr Keane said there had been instructions for a three per cent cutback nationally. 'This year"s allocation seems to be based on 2006 figures and it appears that the Department has not taken into consideration that we are one of the areas in the Dublin commuter belt which is facing increased numbers of students.' He said that he would be raising the issue in his role as a member of the national executive of the Teachers" Union of Ireland (TUI). Dept calls halt to Trim NS extension The construction of a €3.2 million extension to St Mary"s Convent Primary School in Trim has been put on hold by the Department of Education, it was learned yesterday (Tuesday), writes Paul Murphy. A shocked board of management was told by the Department in the last few days that, due to financial constraints, it was not in a position to proceed to construction. The project had gone to tender earlier this year and had gone through all the approved processes. However, the Department"s letter has caused dismay among the school authorities who have 45 young people on a waiting list. An intensive campaign to put the extension in place to cater for the growing school roll has been in progress for the past eight or nine years. The price of €32m for the project has been fixed for 90 days and the school is about 50 days into that process. If approval for construction is not granted by the Department, the entire tendering process will have to be started afresh. School principal Coilin O Coigligh confirmed yesterday that the Department had not approved entry to the construction stage. He said that a window of opportunity would be open for the next four months but added that there would be great disappointment if the project did not go ahead at that stage. 'This extension is needed very badly,' he said.