Cold classrooms, extra layers and lights off: how schools are preparing for the energy crisis

When Linda Dennehy arranged for her school’s oil tank to be refilled recently, she got a shock.

“The most recent fill was €2,500, but we were being quoted twice that. So, we filled it halfway. We just hope that will get us through until Christmas,” says Dennehy, principal of Scoil Íosagáin Infant School in Mallow, Co Cork.

The plan she says, is to hold off heating the school until after midterm break in November. Once the cold mornings begin, the radiators will come on for two hours, from 8am to 10am.

“The reality is we can’t afford to heat them any longer than that,” says Dennehy, whose school has about 150 junior and senior infants.

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“The children will be wearing coats, the staff will be wearing coats. Ideally, we’d heat the school for the whole day, but it’s not possible. It means the rooms are tepid at best and the corridors are freezing. It’s not fair on little people.”

Scoil Íosagáin is not alone. Primary school management bodies, representing about 3,300 schools, this week called for a dramatic increase in the basic pupil capitation rate and ancillary services grant in this month’s budget in order to keep schools warm and lit over the coming months as energy costs soar.

While the Department of Education pays teachers’ salaries directly, schools receive day-to-day funding in the form of a capitation grant (for heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general upkeep) and the ancillary grant (for the cost of employing ancillary services staff).

[ Schools struggle to collect parents’ voluntary contributions as bills mount ]

[ Schools set to get extra funding to pay for soaring heating bills ]

But the Irish Primary Principals’ Network estimates that most schools operate at a deficit of 10-15 per cent every year. This balance is made up through fundraising and requesting voluntary contributions from parents. However, many are struggling to collect these contributions with domestic bills rising and principals worry that fundraising will also dry up.

“Parents have been subsidising schools for years but the ‘bank of mum and dad’ is not solvent enough to support primary schools ,” says Seamus Mulconry, general secretary of the Catholic Primary School Management Association. “The State must act to fulfil its constitutional obligation to provide a free primary education.”

At primary level, the capitation grant amounts to about €1 per pupil per day. The grant (about €183 per pupil) is less than it was a decade ago (€200 per pupil) as a result of austerity-era cuts that have not been fully restored.

Bryan Collins, principal of Scoil Náisiúnta Naomh Feichín in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, points out that while there have been positive gains over recent years such as improvements in the pupil-teacher ratio and increased funding for technology, day-to-day funding remains a big challenge.

“There is definitely a sense of trepidation about our capacity to meet our financial commitments through the winter should energy prices continue to rise,” he says. “It is widely acknowledged by everyone involved in education that the capitation and ancillary services grant funding to primary schools is grossly inadequate.”

Second-level schools are facing similar challenges.

Michael Finn is principal of Gorey Community School, the largest post-primary school in the country, with more than 1,600 pupils and about 150 teachers and special-needs assistants. Heating a school with 76 rooms across a sprawling complex of buildings with different standards of insulation is expensive at the best of times.

The school needs several fills of oil to get through the winter period, which cost tens of thousands of euro. Despite shopping around for quotes from different suppliers, prices are going in only one direction. It expects these bill to rise by at least 10 per cent.

As for electricity, the school has had a fixed-cost arrangement which has kept bills stable. This is due to expire at the end of this year, and the school expects costs to climb by about 20 per cent thereafter.

“We saw the bills jump before the end of last term, so our finances are a huge concern in the current school year,” says Finn.

While the school has yet to receive official advice on ventilation this winter, it is bracing itself for another cold winter.

“Even with the heat blasting, it meant the place was freezing last year,” says Finn. “We had doors open from about 7.20am and draughts going through the school. We’re a large school and having strict rules is important, but we allowed students to wear hoodies under their jumpers or jackets in class. Learning is challenging enough as it is, so this winter it may be another case of layering up to keep warm,” he says.

He points out that, despite issues around capitation, schools have not wanted for funding relating to Covid-19, whether it was PPE, air filtration machines or hand sanitiser. However, Finn feels an increase in capitation and other grants is essential.

Like others, he says funding from parents for administration costs and school trips is particularly slow this year, while the scale of energy increases remains unknown at this stage.

One option facing the school is to increase rents for groups such as Coderdojo and others who use classrooms at evenings and weekends.

“We don’t want to do that, and they’re not millionaires, but we’re just trying to keep things going,” Finn says.

So, what is the Government’s likely response? Sources say that “schools will not be left wanting” and a spokesperson for the Department of Education confirmed that further increases in the capitation grant will be considered as part of the budget.

He added that Budget 2020 was able to provide for a 2.5 per cent increase in standard capitation funding for primary schools that applied from the start of the 2020-2021 school year. This built on a 5 per cent increase in capitation announced a year earlier.

Even with an increase in capitation, campaigners point to OECD figures which indicate that Ireland spends about 20 per cent less per student than other developed countries.

In the case of Scoil Íosagáin, Dennehy says grants are being quickly swallowed up by insurance, maintenance costs, utility bills, classroom resources and administration. With voluntary contributions down by about 30 per cent on last year, and parents under huge pressure, she says increased Government funding is the only answer.

“We had a board meeting this week and the big discussion is do we have enough of a financial cushion to absorb these increased costs,” she says. ”

The reality is our budgets are so limited. The worry is schools end up having to cut costs to the point where children lose out. No one wants that.”