Primary school principal warns of budget pressures

Primary school principal warns of budget pressures

17 April 2024

A LOCAL primary school principal has warned of the budgetary pressures affecting his school.

Chris Currie, principal of Killinchy Primary School, says it has become impossible to operate within his allocated budget from the Department of Education.

He says there is not enough money coming in to meet even basic costs and he is having to rely on the school’s parent-teacher association to provide money for essentials such as books and whiteboards.

Mr Currie said it was a problem shared by other primary schools.

Last month, the Department of Education wrote to schools warning public service budgets for the 2024/25 financial year would be "extremely challenging".

Killinchy Primary School, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, has more than 300 pupils and a staff of almost 45..

Mr Currie said he spends much of his working week on fundraising for basic services.

He told the BBC's Sunday Politics programme: “We simply don't have enough money coming in from the Department of Education to run our school.

“It can't be done. It's as simple as that,” he said. “Our basic staff costs that we need to run the school is well in excess of 100% of our budget. Therefore the books can't be balanced. It's not possible.”

He said an additional £45,000 was spent on running costs, such as heating and electricity.

“Before we even switch on a light we are well in excess of our delegated budget.”

Mr Currie said one cost-cutting measure the school had to take was to merge some classes.

“Over the past eight or nine years there's been a slow burn of an erosion of services that we have been able to offer.”

Mr Currie said the school PTA had to raise funds to allow the school to replace three interactive whiteboards which had stopped working.

A further £10,000 was raised to allow the school to replace reading books, some of which were almost 10 years old, had missing pages and were held together with sticky tape.

Mr Currie said a significant amount of his time is now dedicated to fundraising efforts for “basic resources and services”.

“I could be spending my time in more productive ways. It's not what I'm supposed to be doing,” he said.

Mr Currie is chairperson of the National Association of Head Teachers' Primacy committee and is in regular contact with other headteachers.

“Fundraising has become part and parcel of what we all have to do as principals now. That's charitable work,” he said.

“We are asking for donations and doing activities that are solely designed to raise money so that we can provide the best experience we can for our children. We simply cannot provide it without those charitable donations.”

“We are not unique by any stretch. Every school that I am in contact with is experiencing exactly the same thing.

“We simply cannot offer what we used to be able to offer.”

Alliance MLA Nick Mathison, who is chairperson of the Stormont Assembly's Education Committee, said schools were struggling to balance their books.

“There are many aspects to this but schools do need more money to actually be able to deliver education for our children,” he remarked.

“Schools put on a really, really good front for parents. But behind that, we literally, in some cases, have buildings that are crumbling and [are] hearing about fundraising for what I would consider to be basic essential resources for a school.”

Last month the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Education, Mark Browne, wrote to schools to provide them with an update on the financial planning position.

Mr Browne told schools that the Executive “anticipates that the financial position facing out public services, included education, will be extremely challenging”.

A budget is expected to be agreed towards the end of April.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the education system was facing “significant challenges with many demands”.

The spokesperson added that the Education Minister, Paul Givan, intended to “continue to fight” for additional capital resources.