A cut too far

REGARDING your report (6 February) that the City of Edinburgh Council has reduced proposed cuts in the education budget, there is no doubt that a 1 per cent cut is better than a 2.5 per cent cut, but this is the second year that the Liberal Democrat/SNP administration have claimed a political victory for backing down from a large cut which they themselves proposed only weeks earlier.

The isolated highlighting of the "extra" 250,000 for supplies is another sham – it averages out at about 5.50 per pupil across the city; to put that in context, the annual per-pupil cost at Broughton High School is about 4,500, so the heralded 1 per cent cut takes away 45 per pupil, and we're supposed to be grateful for having got a fiver back.

Broughton has suffered budget reductions of 135,000 over the past three years, and cannot afford to lose another 40,000. And these cuts are nothing in the face of the proposed 200,000 cuts which we will face over the coming years.

We have one of the best school buildings in the land, with world-class music and sports facilities, and we're having to stand by and watch while systematic underinvestment in the budget erodes the quality and choice of education for our children.

This reduced cut is not a victory for our children, it is a material loss at a time when extra investment is needed to prepare for the new Curriculum for Excellence.

The Scottish Government has increased the council's revenue budget, and pledged additional finance for education, but our local council has chosen to divert that money elsewhere, and the government can't stop them – only the voters can.

GRAEME ROBERTSON

Parent, Broughton HS

Craigleith Hill Gardens, Edinburgh