Call To End Council Tax Freeze To Fund Teachers

Ending the council tax freeze could help hire more teachers in Fife, according to a local MSP.

Fife Council must reduce its budget by £77million by 2017, and has hinted at job losses with education making up around half of its annual spending.

The local authority cannot currently raise its own finances through the levy to stop the cuts.

There are more than a hundred fewer teachers working in Fife classrooms since 2007.
 
Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Murdo Fraser said "the plummeting numbers of teachers in Fife since 2007 shows just how badly the SNP has taken its eye off the ball."
 
He said: “Despite rising pupil numbers there are now 117 fewer secondary school teachers in Fife which represents a 7% drop.
 
“Across the rest of the country the Scottish Government is also failing on a number of target areas such as class-sizes and pupil-to-teacher ratio despite promising in 2007 to address both of these issues.
 
“Parents in Fife will be rightly concerned if teacher numbers continue to fall. A first class high school education should be the minimum for every child and the SNP must treat this as an absolute priority and work harder to increase teacher numbers in Fife.”

But new Education Secretary Angela Constance sais the Scottish Government is "making progress" in cutting class sizes and improving the state of school buildings.

Shes said: "All of this has been achieved in the face of austerity. The budget available to us now is around 10 per cent smaller than when the current UK Government took office. Despite this, everyone, including councils, want to do more.

“That’s why we welcome the rise in the number of primary teachers but it is clear that this rise has been outstripped by the increase in primary pupils. That has led to a small but disappointing overall increase in the pupil-teacher ratio.

“We are already in discussions with councils, through Cosla, on the way ahead and these figures will now form part of those talks.

“Everyone involved in education from the Scottish Government to the local councils want to see real progress made. We must redouble our efforts to accelerate improvements in attainment and to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to fulfil their potential.”