002. Give equal funding to primary and second level

One might expect that funding for primary and secondary level would be the same in terms of capitation and ancillary grants, but it’s not the case. Primary schools receive €170 per pupil per annum. Secondary schools receive €296. There is no reason why second level schools should cost much more to run than primary schools. Their buildings are much the same design, require the same amount of heat, water, electricity and insurance cover, and so on. Take a school of only 100 pupils and that’s a gap of €12,600 in funding per annum. Think of what a primary school could do for children with that level of funding. Below is a graph that shows the disparity.