£2m cash boost for schools in West Lothian
West Lothian has secured almost £2m extra to fund education through the Covid-19 pandemic.
The council has been awarded £1.944 million out of £50m set aside by the Scottish Government to recruit extra teachers and support staff.
It is part of an £80m extra spending package lined up for Scotland’s local authorities to help them tackle the problems caused by the six-month lockdown and new measures needed to ensure schools can operate safely.
An additional 42 teachers and six support staff are already in place across the county.
The council is also to receive additional funding to widen digital inclusion, providing laptops for disadvantaged children and young people to enable them to study online.
Executive councillor for education, Councillor David Dodds, said:“The council’s £1.944 million share will be fully utilised over the academic year to provide additional teaching support to pupils during their return to school and assist in the recovery needed as a result of schools being closed during the pandemic.
“An additional 42 teachers and six extra support staff have already been recruited and are being deployed across West Lothian cluster schools to meet the needs of identified groups and individuals throughout the period of learning recovery. This approach further empowers head teachers, in a collaborative way, to meet the differing needs across our schools and communities.”
Councillor Dodds added:“The council is also receiving additional funding to increase levels of digital inclusion, providing laptops for disadvantaged children and young people to enable them to study online. An additional revenue budget allocation of £124,000 and capital funding of £721,000 has been provided for this from the £30 million announced nationally. This funding will provide 2900 digital devices for children and young people across West Lothian schools. Additionally, families will also be supported to remove barriers to internet connectivity, allowing online learning to be accessed both inside and outside of school.
“As well as the funding outlined above, a further £30 million, in addition to the originally announced £50 million, was confirmed by the Scottish Government for the recruitment of further teachers and an extra £50 million in total, to aid logistical challenges in reopening schools. The basis of distribution for these two funding streams is still to be confirmed but it is anticipated that they will be fully required to meet additional teaching support requirements and costs resulting from logistical challenges such as facilities management, cleaning and transport.”
West Lothian council leader, Lawrence Fitzpatrick, added:“As a result of Covid-19, the council faces a net revenue budget pressure of approximately £4.334 million in 2020/21, and council officers continue to engage with Scottish Government and COSLA around further government funding to fund the significant additional costs being incurred by the council.”