If ever there was a time for our political leaders to unite...
IN RECENT years, we have seen huge financial cuts to our public services in Rossendale.
Arguably, in a way which has hurt areas like ours much more than elsewhere.
And if the National Union of Teachers is to be believed, cuts could be hitting our schools in the near future.
The NUT has produced a website which shows what it thinks would happen to schools funding if the government pushes ahead with plans to redistribute funding.
The government is keen to stress that decisions on future funding have yet to be confirmed.
But equally it’s worth remembering that the doomy predictions being made are coming from the people who represent the people we trust to educate our children.
We should, surely, hear them out.
According to the union, by 2020, Haslingden High would be £390k worse off a year by 2020, or £300 a pupil.
That equates, says the NUT, to 10 fewer teachers.
All Saints in Rawtenstall would be £178k a year worse off, or £413 a pupil, or four fewer teachers.
Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School would be £139k worse off, or £178 per pupil.
That’s three fewer teachers.
Fearns would be £158k a year worse off or £348 per pupil, or four teachers.
Whitworth High School would be £213k worse off, or £223 per pupil, or five fewer teachers.
Alder Grange would be £193k worse off, or £271 a pupil. Or five fewer teachers.
And that’s just the high schools.
The picture as predicted by the NUT is just as grim for our primary schools.
If ever there was a time for our political leaders to unite and fight for our area, it’s when education funding comes under scrutiny.
Despite all the talk about NHS funding not being cut, we see our local hospitals millions of pounds in debt.
We can see the impact council funding cuts are having – and don’t forget Lancashire county council will essentially be insolvent within the next three years if something doesn’t give.
Police funding has also been cut and we have fewer officers on the beat as a result.
It seems impossible to believe that we aren’t seeing rises in burglaries and anti-social behaviour as a result.
Surely, education is a line where we say no more.
Cutting services in the here and now is one thing, cutting the services which shape our futures is quite another.
Anyone with experience of 1980s education knows what happens when education money is squeezed.
Roofs leak, books are shared between three pupils each, buildings crumble and education overall suffers.
The NUT says no area in the country will end up better off as a result of the funding changes.
But some areas will fare worse than others and based on the data the NUT have shown, Rossendale fares badly.
Let’s not forget that three areas of Rossendale are rated as being in the top 10 per cent most deprived in the country.
These are areas which need more support for education, not less.
Education makes all our futures stronger.
Having seen our political leaders come together to fight housing quota demands in recent weeks, surely a united front is required to provide the futures our children deserve.
The Scribbler’s views do not necessarily represent those of the Free Press.