Education funding: Schools face 50% cut in shared education cash

Shared education involves pupils from separate schools and different backgrounds coming together for joint classes and activities

Funding for schools to bring pupils from different religions and backgrounds together is to be cut by 50% from September.

Shared education sees pupils from different schools and backgrounds meeting for classes and activities.

Hundreds of schools which take part face getting only half of the funding they received during 2022/23.

A letter from the Education Authority (EA) said the 50% cut was due to the "financial climate".

The letter to principals also said there was no funding available for shared education from the Department of Education (DE) after April 2024.

According to the most recent DE figures, about 700 schools and pre-schools had received funding for shared education projects as of June 2021.

The aim is to bring pupils from Catholic, Protestant and other backgrounds together on a regular basis for joint classes, activities or trips. It is different to integrated education.

One of the longest-running partnerships is between Limavady High School and St Mary's High School.

The two schools are also set to share Northern Ireland's first completed shared education campus - a new building used by pupils of both.

The department provided funding of about £5m a year for schools working together in Shared Education partnerships.

That paid for trips, resources, activities and things like the cost of buses to transport pupils between schools.

The EA letter urged schools to be "creative and innovative" in how they spent the money.

But in the letter from the EA, which has been seen by BBC News NI, principals were told education budget pressures "have unfortunately impacted on the budget available to support mainstreamed shared education (MSE) for the next academic year".

Funding for education was cut in the recent budget from the Northern Ireland secretary.

The shared education money for schools will be about 50% less than the budget provided in 2022/23, the EA letter said.

"We recognise that this will be detrimental to the level of activity that can be provided to children and young people," it added.

Schools in shared education partnerships will be told the exact funding they will get in the coming days.

The EA letter said that "due to the current significant financial pressures" funding to schools for shared education could not yet be confirmed beyond Easter 2024.

"It is hoped that further resourcing will be made available thereafter but at this time we are unable to make any further commitments beyond that timeframe," it said.

The department has already cut funding for numerous schemes, mainly aimed at helping disadvantaged pupils, to save money.

Funding for others, like the early years programmes the Pathway Fund and Sure Start, has not yet been confirmed beyond June.

Why are there so many cuts?

The Executive Office has suggested cuts to numerous groups in response to what it calls "the most challenging budget in recent history".

With a percentage of funds already allocated for designated purposes, the department says front-facing funding cuts are inevitable.

Stormont officials believe they will need to find £800m in cuts and revenue-raising measures in the wake of last month's budget announcement, which was set by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.

The task was put upon Mr Heaton-Harris in the absence of a functioning Northern Ireland Executive as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) continues its boycott of devolved government until concerns about post-Brexit trading arrangements are resolved.

Mr Heaton-Harris, who has denied setting a "punishment budget", warned that government departments face difficult decisions in order to live within the funding available.

Equality Commission funding at 'critical stage'

The news about shared education cuts comes as the Equality Commissioner for Northern Ireland has said its funding is at a "critical stage".

Required funding for the year ahead has been reduced by about 11% (£9.5m).

That is despite extra expenditure on areas like the Homes for Ukraine scheme and the Identity and Language Act.

Chief Commissioner Geraldine McGahey says funding cuts are significantly impacting the nature and scale of the Equality Commission's work

'Staffing numbers half'

Equality Commission chief commissioner Geraldine McGahey told BBC News NI the commission had been subjected to successive year-on-year cuts for more than a decade.

She said its budget had been reduced by nearly 40% in that period with staffing numbers currently half its establishment figure, despite taking on new responsibilities.

"This further proposed 10% budget reduction just compounds this situation further," she said.

"The level of funding is now at a critical stage and impacting significantly on the nature and scale of the work we can do to improve people's lives through addressing inequalities and tackling discrimination."

This was particularly disappointing following the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement which established the commission as one of its safeguards, she added.

Additional pressures

The Executive Office has been allocated £182m for the year ahead - this is despite an increase in financial pressures related to both loss of income sources and new spend commitments.

The Executive Office say front-facing funding cuts are "inevitable"

These new spends include:

• The Covid-19 inquiry

• The Homes for Ukraine scheme

• An increasing number of asylum seekers choosing to make their home in Northern Ireland

• Preparations for the establishment of three new bodies mandated by fresh Irish language and Ulster Scots legislation.

The department said £106m of this year's budget has already been earmarked toward schemes such as truth recovery and victims' payments.

These funds can only be used for their designated purposes and not at the discretion of the department.

With a baseline budget requirement of £85.2m for additional spending, the department now faces a reduction equating to £9.5m.

Some 37% of TEO's budget is spent by its arm's-length bodies (ALB) focused on areas such as equality, community relations and institutional abuse.

An equality impact assessment on potential decisions - which now faces a 12-week consultation period - includes a model of how a 10% budget cut would impact some of these ALBs.

Bodies impacted could include:

• Equality Commission

• Community Relations Council

• Commission for Victims and Survivors

• Attorney General for Northern Ireland

• Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission

• Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse

An analysis of information held by TEO indicates ALB reductions are anticipated to have a negative impact on good relations between people of different religious beliefs, political opinions or racial groups.

The department says budget cuts could also have significant and adverse impacts on children, women, people with disabilities, those with mental health problems, refugees and migrants.

TEO said it had identified potential areas for mitigation by prioritising projects where the safety of a group is at risk.

Further money-saving measures could include continuing a temporary suspension of recruitment and a reduction in Good Relations work - reducing delivery to district council schemes by about 50% compared with last year.

The department stressed these were not recommendations that would be made by officials under normal circumstances, but were actions required as a consequence of "an extremely constrained" budget allocation.