Scrap school rebuild plans to stop savage budget cuts

HEADTEACHERS have suggested scrapping plans to re-build two city high schools to stop big cuts being introduced in all secondaries.

At a meeting to discuss the impact of the council's proposed budget cuts, the heads said they would resist plans to target staffing in all schools as a succession of cuts over the past decade has left them with no more room for manoeuvre.

And some secondary heads would rather see the projects to rebuild Portobello and James Gillespie's highs scrapped than see further cuts hit individual school budgets. This could save the council around 70 million over the next few years.

There is also a "strong feeling" amongst heads that council chiefs should be looking at closing more schools in the Capital to save money.

Online poll: Should the city scrap plans to rebuild two schools to avoid big education cuts?

Vote now

One source said: "Everybody is just so worried and people are looking at what would have the least impact across the city.

"Inevitably people are going to look at capital expenditure.

"Given the scale (of cuts], it's hardly surprising people are looking at stopping the school re-building programme."

Examining alternative funding models for schools - such as Jordanhill School in Glasgow which is directly funded by the Scottish Government's education department - was also discussed at the meeting.

Jack Hamilton, headteacher of Boroughmuir High and chair of the Edinburgh Secondary Schools Headteachers' Association, said talks were still at an early stage and no official response to education chiefs had yet been formalised.

He said: "The meeting of headteachers was part of an ongoing consultation process with the authority over proposed savings and it followed a meeting with officers on Monday and it will continue a week on Friday with officers when we will consider our response."

Edinburgh's Labour group leader Councillor Andrew Burns said: "I completely understand if school heads are making an argument that school-based budgets should be protected."

But city education leader Councillor Marilyne MacLaren was shocked to learn that headteachers would even consider the possibility of scrapping the re-building programme.

She said: "This is an astonishing comment. The two schools to be replaced are deteriorating rapidly and if left will ultimately become unsafe without huge ongoing investment."We want to be able to offer our young people quality facilities in which to learn and develop in the coming years.

"As we move through the budget process we will do all we can to protect the excellent education services we provide."

Education chiefs have already outlined their plans to make 10.5m of savings across the children and families department, with 3.3m of those savings to be found in the city's 23 secondary schools.

These include the possibility of increasing class sizes, charging for music tuition and cutting the number of deputy headteachers.

Officials believe management costs in schools can be cut by up to 12 per cent and are looking at reducing the number of deputy heads in secondaries.

They are also planning to merge the roles of school business managers and bursars in secondaries as education bosses believe they could operate with just one senior business post.