Published: Thursday, 9th October, 2008 12:30
Councillor criticises proposed education cuts
By Peter Swindon
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Fife Labour leader, Alex Rowley, has criticised council proposals to cut education spending by up to £8 million over the next three years.
A report went to the Policy, Finance and Asset Management Committee on 11th September asking councillors to note that services had been told to identify a 1% saving over the next 3 years.
A 1% across the education service over three years equates to £2.58m next year, rising to £5.16m the year after, then £7.74m in year three.
The SNP-led administration said no final decision on future budget cuts has been taken.
Councillor Rowley said: “I have written to every Parent Council in Fife making them aware of the proposal. This on top of the £4 million currently being cut goes way beyond any efficiency savings and must inevitably damage the core service being provided in our schools. The current £4 million cut looks unlikely given that a report to this weeks committee states that the projected overspend for this year in education will be £2 million.”
“I am therefore calling for a far greater involvement of schools, teachers and parents in determining the education budget and setting the priorities. These are the people on the front line and these are the people that are telling me that we need to get more support and resources to the school and to the classroom, not less.”
Councillor Rowley also launched a stinging attack on the SNP-led administration describing their stewardship of education as “a betrayal of Fife’s young people”.
“The SNP made such a big issue before the last election about getting more monies into education, a position I supported, and yet their record in power has been one of cuts.
“They have the nerve to talk about Councils funding free school meals whilst continuing to cut frontline education. People say there is no such thing as a free lunch and that is exactly what we are seeing here in Fife - free school meals at the cost of teachers’ jobs.”
Council leader, Peter Grant, accused Councillor Rowley of “rank hypocrisy”.
“Our schools and parent councils can rest assured that we are committed to improving attainment and achievement for all out young people,” said Councillor Grant. “As evidence of this commitment, during our first year in office we reversed the previous trend of cutting teacher numbers, we are investing in new schools that the previous administration hadn’t even dreamed about, and we increased the “A” allocation for schools to spend on books and equipment by nearly three times the rate of inflation.
“By contrast, in their last two years in charge Cllr Rowley’s colleagues cut 75 teaching posts as part of a series of cuts that took £8.7 million out of Education’s coffers.
He added: “Councillor Rowley knows perfectly well that no final decision has been taken on Fife’s budget for future years. As part of the planning process we have asked officers in every part of the Council to put forward possible savings.
“We fully expect these savings to be much more than we need. This will allow councillors to take decisions about where we make savings and where we invest more money.”
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