Press release
Ministers Foley and Madigan announce details of €9.6 billion education funding in Budget 2023
Published on
Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Education Norma Foley and Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion Josepha Madigan today announced details of Budget 2023 landmark increases in investment in schools.
Budget 2023 provides an increase of €443 million in core funding, as well as over €145 million in non-core expenditure. This builds on significant increases in recent budgets and further enhances the investment in the primary and post-primary education system. The significant increased investment reflects the government’s commitment to a quality inclusive school system with improved learning outcomes for every student.
The key features include:
Minister Foley said:
“I am proud to have secured these ground-breaking investments in our education system, furthering the work of recent years in reducing class sizes, reducing costs for families, tackling disadvantage and supporting the achievement of all our students.
“The introduction of a new scheme to provide free books for all students in primary school has been a priority of mine since taking office and signifies a new chapter in Irish primary education. This permanent initiative will greatly reduce the burden on families and reflects the importance this government places on education for all children. It will benefit up to 540,000 students, across every county.
“A rise in the cost of living should never be a barrier to education. I am pleased to have the support of my colleagues in Government to ensure this remains the case and as part of the cost of living measures schools in the free education scheme will receive a one-off 40 per cent increase in funding to support increased energy and other costs.
“Government is further delivering on its commitment to reduce class sizes in this Budget. For the third consecutive year I have brought in a measure to reduce class sizes by lowering the staffing schedule for schools, bringing it to an historic low of 23:1 in primary school. When the new staffing schedule is implemented in the next school year, we will see a further reduction in average class sizes, and in the pupil teacher ratio – which is based on the total number of teaching staff in the school.
“Since 2021 we have invested in an enhanced summer programme, to support students at risk of educational disadvantage and help mitigate learning loss as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme has been extremely successful, and I am delighted to announce the further €20 million in funding this year to maintain the availability of this programme for all schools. It has been enormously valuable to students and continues to grow in popularity and in impact.
“This Budget also provides funding in 2023 to progress our plans for Senior Cycle reform, which is also rooted in student wellbeing and putting the student at the centre of the process.”
Minister Madigan said:
“This Budget makes the biggest-ever commitment, in real, financial and percentage terms, to students with special educational needs and their families.
“At over €2.6 billion, this level of investment in special education is unprecedented, representing more than 27 per cent of the Department of Education’s total allocation for 2023.
“We are building on the progress already made on additional classes, teachers and supports. With an additional 686 teachers, and an additional 1,194 SNAs coming on stream in 2023, for the first time ever we will have over 19,000 teachers working in the area of special education and over 20,000 special needs assistants.
“Together we have almost 40,000 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs. The children will undoubtedly benefit, as is right and proper, from the additional focus these resources will bring to their education.
“I am delighted to announce additional psychology supports for special schools and special classes, and additional funding for the assistive technology scheme.
“I know from my ongoing engagement with parents and families of students with additional needs that they require support with the complex and challenging issues which they face daily. I am proud to announce a significant investment in the expansion of the National Council for Special Education, with a total full-year investment of €13 million, in over 160 additional staff. This investment is being undertaken that the NSCE can respond effectively, compassionately and quickly to the increased need in our education system so that children and their families are fully supported and achieve the best possible education outcomes.
“This Budget demonstrates my determination to ensure the continuous development of special education provision, policy and resources for our children to allow them to achieve the best possible outcomes in their lives.”
Additional funding of €3 million in 2023 will be provided for social inclusion measures, including enhancing the capacity of the education welfare services in Tusla that are now under the remit of the Minister for Education.
Additional provision in Budget 2023 for measures supporting children with special educational needs includes:
o 206 of the new posts will provide additional support for children attending mainstream classes including new and expanding schools
o 480 posts will facilitate the opening of a further 370 new special classes providing over 2,200 new places in 2023 and 250 new special school places
o 735 to support students in new special classes
o 124 to support students in new special school places
o 335 to support students in mainstream classes
As a result, the number of special classes will increase to 2,900 in schools throughout the country.
Further investment in special education will include:
Under Project Ireland 2040, the school sector will receive a total of approximately €4.4 billion capital investment over the period 2021-2025. This significant investment allows us to move forward with certainty on our ambitious plans and deliver high-quality building projects, with a real focus on sustainability, for school communities across Ireland.
Capital planning and budgeting is undertaken on a multi-annual basis. The allocation of €860 million for 2023 will facilitate a continued strong roll-out of school building projects. This includes the continued progression of the circa. 300 building projects that are currently at construction. The majority of these projects are expected to be completed in 2023. These projects include over 50 new school buildings and extensions at circa. 250 schools.
The continued roll-out of the National Development Plan will involve a further circa. 150 school building projects that are currently at advanced design or tender stage, commencing construction over the course of 2023. A strong focus of the school building programme is delivering additional capacity for special classes, particularly at post-primary level, and also for special schools.
Once-off funding of €100 million is also being provided for 2022 as part of the cost of living measures to be enacted this year to ensure financial supports are available for:
The pupil teacher ratio calculates the number of pupils in a school as a ratio of the total number of teachers employed in the school, including class teachers and special education teachers.
The annual staffing schedule determines the allocation of teachers to schools. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September.