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Startup Grant Campaign Educate Together and all new ET schools are campaiging for an increase in the New Schools Startup Grant from its current level of €6,348. This grant was introduced in 2001 and has not increased from its initial sum since then!  The
grant is totally inadequate as a once off payment to help a school
acquire essential equipment to open. The result of this is
that schools are getting into serious debt before they even open their
doors.We believe the grant should be increased to €30,000 immediately. This figure, which is a more realistic sum, is based on hard evidence of how much money is required to open a school. Click image to see it full size. Read this Fact Sheet (pdf format) to see the actual figures based on averaging the cost to 3 different schools which opened in 2007. The €6,348 grant barely covers the cost of mandatory School Insurance and leaves nothing for basic materials and equipment such as a photocopier, sports equipment, classroom resources, etc.  We are asking all concerned parents and other interested parties to write to their local representatives and request that they raise this issue with the Minister for Education and Science as a matter of urgency. We have prepared a sample letter which can be used for this purpose or feel free to write your own. The Fact Sheet can also be included with the letter. Please let us know of any replies you receive - good or bad. |