KINGSTON, Jamaica — Public schools across Jamaica will receive an additional $757.5 million in funding for the upcoming 2026/27 academic year.

The disclosure was made by Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dana Morris Dixon, during Wednesday’s Post Cabinet Press Briefing at Jamaica House.

“On average, every public school is getting 55 per cent more funding from the Ministry of Education. That’s a significant increase and you’ll see the increase is actually higher for primary schools and special needs institutions,” she said.

Morris Dixon explained that the ministry consolidated the existing grants into an operational grant and then added the increase.

She pointed out that school administrators have the flexibility to decide how the funds are used based on defined parameters.

“Twenty-five per cent of the amount given should be used towards administration. Repair and maintenance is 20 per cent of the grant. There is also learning environments, so getting material in for teaching and learning or working on new initiatives around teaching and learning, 30 per cent of the grant can be used on that,” she shared.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) has an allocation of 15 per cent, while 10 per cent of the grant is to be used for student welfare.

“The grants have already started going out. Every public school, in the second week of June, would have gotten their first tranche and the first tranche is 30 per cent. The second tranche goes out the first week in September and then the third tranche goes out in December,” the minister said, adding that the second and third tranches are 15 and 20 per cent, respectively.

Morris Dixon shared that the increased subvention varies based on population and other factors such as the number of students enrolled on the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).

In a document obtained from the ministry, it said annual allocations for operations now range from approximately $1 million to $4.8 million.

Under the current funding model, infant schools received an operational grant of $500,000 for the first 150 students, plus $2,700 per additional student, as well as a $150,000 maintenance grant, resulting in a minimum annual allocation of $650,000 to cover the operations of the school.

“The new framework increases the minimum allocation to $1,000,000 and will provide an additional $25,942,900 in operational grant support for the 64 stand-alone infant schools, increasing total funding from $46,657,100 to $72,600,000,” the document read in part.

At the primary level, the minimum allocation will be $1 million, up from $650,000.

Under the current model, special educational institutions are funded based on the grade level of the students.

Infant and primary students are funded similarly at $500,000 for the first 150 students plus $2,700 per additional student, while secondary students are funded at $17,000 per student with a maintenance grant of $150,000, resulting in a minimum annual allocation of $650,000.

“The proposed framework increases the minimum allocation to $3,500,000 and the maximum to $9,500,000 and will increase operational grant support for 13 special educational institutions from $25,145,800 to $50,536,800 over two years,” the document said.

At the secondary level, the minimum annual allocation of $2.385 million for operations will be increased to $7 million.

–        JIS