Council defend cuts in favour of other services

Many vital services would be all but obliterated if education spending was protected, according to Fife Council’s leaders.

Defending cuts to school budgets David Alexander and David Ross said education and children’s services accounted for around half of the local authority’s spending.

The pair said more than £350,000 was spent on education and when considering savings the council always considered what would have the least impact on teaching and learning.

In a joint statement, they said: “Over the years we have protected spend on education, but like every other service provided by the council, education has to take a share of the savings we are required to make. To protect education completely would mean virtually wiping out many other vital council services.

“The changes we make in delivering education in our schools are designed as far as possible to protect and enhance the quality of education in Fife.

“Some of this will mean changes in practice for pupils and teachers, but the aim is always to retain choice and opportunity for our young people, even if this is in a different way from in the past.”

As other schools consider following Madras College in shortening the school day, they also stressed that schools offered no less than 25 hours of teaching a week.

They said maintaining a wide range of opportunites for pupils could see combined approaches involving several schools in an area and Fife College. Strenuous efforts continue to recruit and retain teachers, they added.

The leaders’ statement concluded: “We are keen to work with our teachers, education support staff and trade unions to identify ways of protecting and enhancing education in Fife, within the constraints of the funding we are given.

“We would be more than happy if they joined us in pressing the Scottish Government for a real terms increase in funding for all local council services including education.”