Finance

Finance

(a) Capital expenditure and works

(i) No alteration, extension or replacement of the school building and/or grounds shall be undertaken by the Board unless and until such have been approved in writing by the Patron and Trustees.

(ii) In addition to the approval required under (i) above, capital expenditure for which grant aid is to be sought must not be entered into until prior written sanction to do so has been received from the Department of Education and Skills.

(iii) Boards must comply with current building and planning regulations.

(iv) Nothing in this section shall prevent the Board from carrying out minor works covered by Circular 0141/2006 Grant Scheme for Minor Works to National School Properties. If in doubt on the interpretation of the terms of that circular, the Board should consult with the Building Unit, Department of Education and Skills.

(v) The Patron may designate the Chairperson or a member of the Board to act on behalf of the Trustees in dealing with the Department of Education and Skills in regard to capital expenses. Such designation must be made in writing.

(b) Capitation

(i) Capitation grants shall be used to meet operating costs such as heating, cleaning, lighting, purchase of teaching materials and maintenance of school premises and grounds.

(ii) Each Board shall arrange, in consultation with the Principal Teacher, for the allocation of a sum of money annually from the capitation grant for the provision of classroom requisites.

(c) Grant Payments

All State grants from the Department shall be used only for the purpose for which they are provided. The Department issues a schedule of anticipated grant payments at the beginning of each school year and subsequent statements at regular intervals confirming the grant payments which have issued over the course of the school year. These statements issue to the Chairperson and Principal of each school and should be retained carefully for reference for accounting and budgeting purposes. A copy of these statements should also be made available to each member of the Board of Management and to the Parents’ Association.

(d) Insurance

(i) In general, it is the duty of the Board of Management (delegated by the Trustees) to put in place comprehensive insurance cover for the school. In the case of Catholic schools it is the duty of the Trustees in consultation with the Board of Management to insure school property.

(ii) The Board shall ensure that all such insurances are effected and maintained as are necessary to safeguard the school, the Board and the Trustees against all public liability and against the consequences of negligence on the part of any person employed by the Board or any servant or agent of the Board, or any defect in the buildings, premises, furnishings or equipment of the school whereby loss or damage might result to any person in or upon the school premises.

(iii) The following is the position for schools operating from premises owned by the Minister:

A Lease, to be executed between the Minister for Education and Skills and the relevant school Patron, is being introduced for schools operating in premises owned by the Minister. Under the terms of that Lease, schools are obliged to take out Public Liability and Employer's Liability insurance but are not required to take out buildings cover. Buildings will be covered by State indemnity.

The Lease will be put into place on a phased basis, starting with schools that are commencing operation in a premises owned by the Minister in the 2007/8 school year. Thereafter, Leases will be put in place for schools already operating in Ministerially-owned premises. It is intended to have Leases put in place for all such schools as soon as practicable. However, up to and until such time as the Lease is executed between the Minister and the relevant Patron, schools operating in Ministerially-owned premises are obliged to have adequate buildings cover in place, along with Public Liability and Employer's Liability insurance.

(iv) The insurance policy shall be available for inspection by interested parties.

(e) Accounting practice

What constitutes an adequate accounting system will depend on the size of the school and the diversity of its activites. However, a computerised template of an efficient accounting system is available, on request, from Primary Administration Section 2, Department of Education and Skills, Cornamaddy, Athlone, Co. Westmeath and is also available on the Department’s website at www.education.ie. Boards of Management are asked to consider utilising this package for accounting systems. Boards may also avail of on-line banking systems, however, the Board must satisfy itself that proper internal controls are in place for the use of on-line banking services and that all proper and usual accounts are kept in respect of each transaction.

(i) All expenditure by or on behalf of the Board of Management must be approved by the Board. The keeping of accounts and records must be in accordance with Section 18 of the Education Act, 1998.

(ii) A total account of the Board's income and expenditure shall be prepared at the end of each school year and shall be properly audited or certified in accordance with best accounting practice. This account should be made available to the school community, the Patron, Trustees and on request the Minister. This account should incorporate details of all accounts which may be maintained separately by the Board in compliance with the terms of particular grant schemes.

(iii) Copies of this account, referred to at (ii) above, shall be presented to members of the Board and a copy of this account retained as part of the minutes of the Board of Management.

(iv) The school accounts shall also be available for audit by officers of the Department of Education and Skills and officials of the Comptroller and Auditor General's Office if requested.

(v) All transactions from the school accounts must be signed by the Chairperson and Treasurer. However, the Chairperson may nominate a board member to act as signatory in his/her absence

(f) Budgeting

(i) Boards of Management should budget in such a way as to enable them to meet commitments which may be substantial but which arise only periodically.

(ii) Boards' expenditure should not exceed their annual income.

(iii) Overdrafts or other forms of debts or excesses of expenditure over income must be approved by the Patron, in conjunction with Trustees where required, and should be avoided except for limited periods, and where the Board is satisfied that the overdraft or debt can be cleared by the Board.

(iv) At the commencement of its financial year the Board shall frame and adopt a budget for the year.

(v) This budget should include provision for all relevant items of expenditure such as insurance, purchase of classroom requisites, maintenance costs etc.

(vi) The Board of Management may form a Finance Sub committee to operate under the authority of the Board.

(vii) Fundraising in the name of the school must have the prior consent of the Board of Management. A Parents’ Association should consult with the Board about fundraising for the school or school projects. The approval of the Board is needed before these funds are raised. The expenditure of these funds is by the Board of Management, in consultation with the parents’ association. All monies raised or generated for an agreed project for the school should be lodged to the school account.

Salary return (Rule 17 of the Rules for National Schools)

The school return furnished in connection with the claims for payment of salaries must be examined and checked by the Chairperson, and the certificate printed on the return must be signed by the Chairperson, without alteration, as a condition of payment of salaries. When the payment of salary to the teacher would be delayed owing to the inability of the Chairperson to sign the school return, the return must be certified by a member of the Board, other than a teacher-member, nominated by the Board for this purpose. The Board shall notify the Department as far in advance as possible on the appropriate form of all proposed changes of teachers.

On-Line Claim System (O.L.C.S.) for Primary Schools

The Department introduced an On Line Claim System referred to as O.L.C.S. from the 16th March, 2007. All primary schools will be using it in the near future.

The system is a major new development for the recording of leave, the payment of casual and non-casual teachers (substitutes) and substitute special needs assistants. It is a web-based system which enables schools to input details of the absences of teachers and special needs assistants and the claims for the payment of casual and non-casual teachers and substitute special needs assistants on line using a P.C. in the school. The data inputted in the school is transferred by web to a central OLCS database. The data is subsequently transferred from the OLCS database to the Department payrolls on a daily basis.

The OLCS system replaces the substitute teacher salary claim form which had to be input manually and posted to the Department. It also replaces the quarterly return forms used to record absences of teachers and special needs assistants.

The details regarding teacher absences are summarised in Circular 32/2007. This Circular should be checked when recording leave on O.L.C.S. Details regarding the absences of special needs assistants are outlined in Circular Pay SNA 18/04.

Security

To maintain the integrity of the OLCS system it is important that Boards of Management ensure that the necessary control and security measures are complied with. The designated user and approver of the system should be advised to keep the passwords secure at all times and not to pass them to other members of staff. If the user or approver must leave the P.C unattended s/he should logout of O.L.C.S. The data user and approver should always ensure that all details of the teachers and special needs assistants are input correctly to the system. In particular, they should check that bank account details are input correctly.