Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ULSTER SCHOOLS ARE BEING FAILED Principals ‘angry’ over rejection
632 budget plans turned down
PRINCIPALS have been left “angry and bewildered” after 632 schools in Northern Ireland had their budget plans rejected. year-on-year. The frightening thing is many of these schools have exhausted all reasonable cost-reducing measures.”
The MLA added the education system faces annual increases in pay costs of around £60million and this has largely been passed on to school budgets in the previous three financial years.
Describing the matter as “untenable”, she said many principals have faced major deficits in their annual funds.
Ms Barton added: “The DUP/ Conservative money which was supposedly secured to help address some of these immediate pressures still looks as far away as ever. We need an urgent review of wider education funding as it is clear the current model is increasingly not fit for purpose.
“For instance, schools in Northern Ireland only receive 59% of the actual education budget, far behind the levels of other UK regions, with the rest increasingly being consumed by a swathe of growing administrative bodies such as the Education Authority.”
Only 239 schools had their spending plans approved and the principals who were turned down will not be able to use the cash they say is needed to fund learning. An EA spokesman said the sector is facing significant financial pressure.
They added: “The Education Authority and principals have recently highlighted the challenges facing school budgets.
“At this stage, 239 schools have had their spending plans approved.
“Six hundred and thirty-two have not yet had their plans approved as they were unable to demonstrate they could live within their budget allocations.
“EA continues to work with these schools to help them develop plans which demonstrate they can live within their budgets.
“EA welcomes the recent announcement of additional funding which will help schools who are planning to access previous surpluses to meet the challenges of the current year.
“However, we continue to highlight the increasing financial challenges and growing demand for services as we move into 2018-19 and beyond.”