Primary School Timetable Cuts "Off The Table"

Campaigners are cautiously welcoming an announcement that cuts to the Fife primary school week have been shelved.

Dehra Sweet, who launched a petition opposed to the idea of a 10percent shorter timetable, is warning the statement is somewhat misleading.

Ms Sweet says any possible changes were never going to come in during the next financial year anyway:

The local authority must reduce spending by £77million by 2018.

Speaking in the run up to tomorrow's budget meeting of Fife Council, Cllr Ross said, “First of all we see education as a major priority and believe it should be funded properly by the Scottish Government.  We estimate that Fife needs at least £27m additional funding from Holyrood to maintain current levels of education provision over the next 3 years.
 
“Education is vitally important for our young people, to help them achieve their full potential as individuals, as a means of tackling the causes of poverty in our society and as a key element of building a prosperous and successful Fife from which we will all benefit.
 
“It just isn’t clear how much Fife will be getting from the Scottish Government for education in future years.  Nor is it clear what targets they will set us for teacher numbers or class sizes, or what other restrictions they will impose on the way we spend our education budget.
 
“That makes it nearly impossible to set a realistic budget for the Education Service beyond the next financial year. 
 
“At the Council budget meeting tomorrow (Thursday) we will not therefore be accepting most of the future savings proposed for education in our draft budget.
 
“The current education engagement on future approaches to improving education in Fife has been a major success with over 1500 people participating in engagement meetings and further meetings with parent councils still underway.  This engagement is and remains separate from the budget process.
 
“There is general agreement around some issues discussed as part of the education engagement process, for instance the embedding of employability in secondary education and the broadening of the options on offer at that level. 
 
“However there is significant public concern regarding the possibility of reducing the school day in primary schools. Our education officials still hold the view that there would be educational benefits from this approach   However it is clear that the case for this approach has not been made.  Unless and until the concerns expressed can be addressed and alleviated and unless there is clear evidence to support this approach then it is off the table as far as our Administration is concerned.
 
“The Education Service accounts for over 50% of the council’s total revenue budget.  If the council is forced to make the £77m savings that are estimated, then some of these savings need to come from education or the impact on the rest of the council’s services would be catastrophic.
 
“We will, over the coming two years, seek to establish a sustainable budget model for education in Fife that protects this vital service and maintains the improvements we are now seeing in attainment and outcomes for our young people.
 
“We will do this by building on the success of the current education engagement.  We will continue the dialogue with parents, pupils, teachers and their trade unions, the Scottish Government and other stake holders who wish to play a positive part in shaping the future of education in Fife, to look at all the options for sustaining and improving our education service. 
 
“We will also be pressing the Scottish Government vigorously in the coming months to provide the level of funding we need in Fife for our education system.”