Cash cuts are failing pupils, teachers warn

Published on Saturday 7 June 2008 19:48

HUNDREDS of Scottish schools are suffering budget cuts despite government claims that funding is being increased, according to a survey by the country's biggest teaching union.

The research by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), which represents three quarters of teachers, shows that in more than half of council areas, school funding is being held at its previous level or being cut.

Labour has leapt on the study as evidence that Scottish schoolchildren will suffer because of cuts in spending on schools and teaching.

However, the SNP Government has accused Labour of scare-mongering and claimed that education authorities are receiving record amounts of funding.

The EIS surveyed their members across the whole of Scotland and received responses from teachers in 23 council areas out of 32. In 18 authorities, their members told them that funding for schools was either being cut or held at its current level. And in three authorities – Aberdeen, Orkney, and Renfrewshire – members were expecting redundancies.

An EIS spokesman said: "Our members are very worried about what is happening across Scotland. We know that councils and ministers are claiming that they are putting more money into education department budgets, but that doesn't necessarily mean that any more is actually being spent in the classrooms. We are especially concerned about cuts in training and development for teachers, which will ultimately impact on the children."

In addition, a letter by John Stodter, the general secretary of the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, has said that in schools are having to make savings of about 2%, although the situation varied across Scotland. It explained that while overall spending for education budgets was being increased, much of that increase was being swallowed up by staffing costs."

Wendy Alexander, the Labour leader in the Scottish Parliament, said: "Labour has been accused of scare-mongering by Alex Salmond as he tries to dodge the issue of education cuts in the parliament and the impact those cuts will have across the country. We did warn that the SNP's concordat with local authorities was a con. It's time for Alex Salmond to learn some humility and listen to what teachers, education directors, and head teachers have been telling the SNP."

The Nationalists have claimed that they have increased funding for schools despite what they claims is a less than generous block grant from the Treasury in London. Last year, they agreed a funding deal, known as the 'Concordat', with local councils which removed many of the spending constraints the authorities operated under.

And a spokesman for First Minister Alex Salmond also added that Stodter's letter did not paint the picture of wholesale cuts that Alexander was claiming was the case.

He said: "I think the letter is significant. To listen to Wendy in the chamber you would think that everything was being cut. It's not.

There are significant spending increases for schools across Scotland in the areas that matter most. And councils are going to be allowed to keep any money they save through efficiencies to spend on services, under Labour, they had to hand than back to the government."

The spokesman claimed that extra cash was being allocated to schools in a series of instances.

They included, Fife, which is run by the SNP and Lib Dems, where an extra 9.6m will be spent on cutting class sizes, including 27 new teachers for deprived areas.