RCT council’s £40m school spending plan

MORE than £40m has been set aside for the next financial year towards building and improving schools in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) as the council approved its budgets.

In the 2018/2019 capital budget, £43.2m has been set aside for education and lifelong learning in the county borough.

An additional £500,000 has been made available for schools during the next financial year as part of the council’s capital budget programme.

The investment is supported by the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools Programme.

The new schools are Porth Community School and Cwmaman County Primary School which are set to be completed by this summer and Tonyrefail Community School and Ysgol Nantgwyn (Tonypandy Community School) which should be completed by spring 2019.

The money would also fund improvements to Treorchy Comprehensive, Tonyrefail Primary, Llwyncelyn Infants School, Ysgol Gymraeg Llwyncelyn, Ferndale Community School and Cymmer Primary School.

The council is also providing an additional £2m for current school budgets, which represents a 1.4% increase.

Council leader Andrew Morgan said: “This is a positive budget position to be in. We have gone further than £1m for schools to help them with additional costs.”

Councillor Pauline Jarman, leader of the Plaid Cymru group said she called on the council “to consider reducing the council tax increase to 3%”.

She requested a suspension of standing orders in order to table an alternative budget but was told there was no provision to do so.

Moving on to the extra £2m for schools, Cllr Jarman said: “Schools are horrified about the effect next year’s budget will have on them.

“We are in control of the budget we have and the Welsh Government in the one it has.

“There is something drastically wrong with regards to the government formula or council formula.

“It seems like smoke and mirrors. It is going to cost jobs and hardships.”

Coun Morgan replied to Coun Jarman’s request for an alternative budget by saying that the opposition party needed to put this forward days before the council meeting.

“They have had ample opportunity to put forward an alternative budget and they have not done it.”

“This budget could be much much bleaker. We are trying to invest and protect jobs.”

Coun Mike Powell of the Liberal Democrats said: “The £2m increase is effectively a cut.

“You should have a budget to maintain schools in the status quo. You did not set a budget which is proportionate to maintain this status quo.”

“This budget isn’t prioritising education.”