SVP welcomes proposal to link school uniform costs with levels of funding for schools

Today Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore announced a proposal which may result in funds being cut to schools who do not allow parents to opt for cheaper uniforms instead of expensive crested jumpers and blazers

SVP fully supports the move to link school uniform costs with levels of funding for schools. We see this proposal as solving a real problem with a real solution. We need action and accountability at school level and this is one way to achieve it.

SVP knows that the costs of expensive school uniforms can decimate a family’s budget and a lot of this cost is unnecessary and avoidable. We feel so strongly about this that we worked with Barnardos and National Parents Council to develop a short list of options to reduce uniform costs. We invited the various education bodies to endorse this and they did by ensuring that the document was sent to Boards of Management at local school level so they could think about what their school could do to keep costs down.

Today’s news that reducing uniform costs may be linked to school funding is welcome in that it could get the result we want.

SVP fully supports the Minister in his agenda to get parent’s more engaged as partners in their children’ education. We see this as a longer term process but in the meantime anything which gets costs down for parents is good news for us!