When it comes to the Budget and education, it's largely a case of all will be revealed in the coming weeks. All the signs are that the education sector is in for a busy time.

We can look forward to a plethora of education announcements and launches between now and Christmas. Next year, the Department will spend £3.244 billion on education, which represents a 41 per cent increase on expenditure in the sector compared to 1997. E&L has learned that the Department is currently finalising details on a range of measures, which will be announced in the coming weeks. Teachers, too, stand to gain - in their pay packets, thanks to the tax reforms.

As far as the Department is concerned, the big news in the Budget is the £15 million per annum which is being allocated to schools for secretarial and caretaking services. This is on top of the £2.7 million for primary-school improvements which was announced by the Minister in September.

An initial £5 million is to be spent on secretarial and caretaking services to cover the period from September to December 2000. This money will be particularly welcome in the primary and secondary school sectors, where the provision for secretarial and caretaking services has been abysmal. "Voluntary sector schools have been operating on a shoestring with regard to secretarial and caretaking services," comments John White, assistant general secretary of the ASTI.

"We have about 40 very small schools which currently receive no secretarial or caretaking funding. I hope this will be addressed."

White points to the huge increases in schools' administration which have been emerging in recent years, some of it as a result of legislation - school planning and the recording of school attendance, for example.

The investment in secretarial and caretaking services "begins to resolve one of the major disputes we have with the Department", adds the INTO's Senator Joe O'Toole. "The employment of ancillary staff is a first step towards dealing with the difficulties faced by our principals."

In his Budget speech, the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, told the Dail that the 75 per cent increase in capital funding to schools "will enable the largest school building and renovation programme in our history to get under way". Some £4 million is being made available for a comprehensive survey of all school buildings in the State. This, it is expected, will be carried out on a consultancy basis, most likely by the OPW.

The Budget also provides £5 million for out-of-school-hours childcare in schools. This measure is regarded as a further ploy to facilitate working parents, many of whom need before and after-school childcare, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Under this scheme, schools will be able to apply for grants to pay for homework clubs and childminding services. Details are yet to be finalised, but E&L understands that preference will be given to schools in disadvantaged areas.

EDUCATION has also been allocated an annual £10 million for a number of initiatives targeted at disadvantaged students at both primary and second levels. As yet, no details are available, but expect an announcement on an educational disadvantage initiative shortly.

"It is important that increased spending on education includes measures to reduce class size," observes the ASTI's John White. "This must be done as a matter of urgency. We have the largest class sizes in Europe."

Concern has been expressed in Early Start circles about the Minister's plan to replace the measure with a new initiative. According to sources, the launch of the White Paper on Early Childhood Education is scheduled for December 17th.

Schools currently providing Early Start will continue to do so. However, reforms are necessary, a source says, because the programme is failing to achieve its objectives. "They won't lose the service, but they will have to work with the Department to make the service more effective."

Teachers' take-home pay is set to rise as a result of Budget taxation changes. "As a trade unionist, I clearly see that the taxation changes do not favour people on lower incomes," comments O'Toole. However, "the tax improvements will represent a substantial increase in income for teachers," he says, which is something for which the INTO has been arguing for some time.