Private Schools or Carers – who came out worse in Budget 2013 ?

In Budget 2013 a small cut to the funding of fee paying schools was announced – which is forecast to save about €6 million a year . There are about 26000 pupils at private fee paying schools in Ireland – so that works out at a cutof €230 per pupil. Maybe the schools will have to increase the fees by that much a year?  Will many o fthe parents even notice ?

For a comparison we will look at how  the Carers Respite Grant  was treated in the Budget. The  grant is is paid annually to full time carers to help them fund respite such as a short break for themselves and/or the person they care for. In 2013 this grant is to be cut by €325 . The 77,000 carers who get this grant will see an overall drop in funding of €25 million a year .

Cut in funding per private school pupil =  €230
Cut in funding for a carer = €325

How can that be right?

2 thoughts on “Private Schools or Carers – who came out worse in Budget 2013 ?

  1. Tad harsh. Private school students already save the government money by not taking up places in already strained public schools. Are you suggesting that because a parent chooses to pay the already steep fees to send a child to private school they should be hit harder by the government. Many families with children in private education are not extremely well off and often must make sacrifices to pay the fees, just like many families pay for private healthcare in order to avoid the under funded public sector.

  2. While I sympathise with the carers as they have a heavy load to carry. To say that parents of privately educated children won’t even notice the extra money is totally unfair.
    I had to choose to send my child to private school to get him the help the state schools failed to give. The pressure of this over the 5 years he was in school took a huge strain on the whole family.
    Not everyone in private schools have it easy.

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