Save money by spending more on Education

[Prester Jim]

You can't increase the education spend any ore this year Jim- something about borrowing €20 odd billion as we stand!

Unless the amount spent on pay is reduced your programs cannot be considered no matter how worthy in nature.

This will require a radical rethink of tax and spend policies and it may not be the right time now but it should be implemented ASAP as it saves a fortune.
2.5 times the amount spent is saved later.
how can this be ignored?

[orbit]

The Department of Education has yet to spend half it's 2009 budget
RTÉ News: Education Dept yet to spend €396m of budget

How is this possible when kids are being taught in crappy prefabs?

I don't like the tone of that article.

Department of Finance figures show no other department with a significant capital allocation is so far behind is spending its allocated budget.

Arguably, they should be congratulated for not frittering it away, and instead being more cautious about getting best value for money.

[The Caped Cod]

It' great that they are not wasting the money (as far as we know anyway) but couldn't some of it be used to build a few classrooms around the country. What are th Department saving up for.

[Prester Jim]

[QUOTE=Rebel CNC;2174922]We spend plenty but too much wasted on indulging a fairly cushy lifestyle for teaching staff at the expense of investment in other aspects of the education system.

See below

Benchmark teachers pay against EC average and plough the savings back into new schools, equipment, special needs students, etc.

and benchmark house prices? price of food? services etc? we have an absurd cost of living here.

Also, cut the summer holiday break by a month.

and that will encourage kids to stay in education? Not a chance it will increase the dropout rate and cost us even more in the long term

Work time for teachers 'one of lowest in OECD' - The Irish Times - Sat, Sep 26, 2009[/QUOTE]

that has been answered previously that the report is flawed as it also states that we have different methods of measuring work times as we have no hours counted for other tasks etc. we actually have above average in reality (will find link when have time) I will direct you to another thread where it was answered in full. don't have interest now as this is not what the thread is about though.

[cactusflower]

Joseph Stiglitz followed the progress of countries in South East Asia following their crash 10 years ago. The countries that recovered the fastest didn't take IMF loans and invested in education.

[Prester Jim]

Joseph Stiglitz followed the progress of countries in South East Asia following their crash 10 years ago. The countries that recovered the fastest didn't take IMF loans and invested in education.

Perfect, unfortunately many, many people are influenced more by the ideology that is free marketism and low tax-low spend policy than they are by actual hard facts.
we have to be open minded to advance and improve the nation, we need vision for the future not to be constantly be scrambling around for scapegoats and quick fixes.
this is a long term fix for a better society.

please, please read the summary.

[goosebump]

Perfect, unfortunately many, many people are influenced more by the ideology that is free marketism and low tax-low spend policy than they are by actual hard facts.
we have to be open minded to advance and improve the nation, we need vision for the future not to be constantly be scrambling around for scapegoats and quick fixes.
this is a long term fix for a better society.

please, please read the summary.

Everybody agrees that investing in Education produces a dividend.

2 things:

We have to consider the cost of that investment, in that if we continue to borrow to fund it, the dividend is offset by the negative consequences of generational debt.

The bulk of our investment is consumed by sweet heart deals with teachers unions, and that the challenge must be to direct more of what we spend on salaries into assets, rather than just focusing on investing in assets.