SNP pledge to cut school class sizes in jeopardy by funding crisis

May 11 2008 By Lesley Roberts

SCOTLAND'S two biggest councils need at least s86million to meet government targets on reducing class sizes.

SNP plans to reduce primary classes to 18 were in disarray last night after education bosses in both Glasgow and Edinburgh said they had nowhere near enough funding to meet the target.

Councillors in Glasgow say it will cost s45million to pay for the extra teachers and classrooms to meet the target while in Edinburgh, they'll require s41million.

Edinburgh education convener Marilyne MacLaren said: "The target is very difficult when you consider the resources needed to build new classrooms and recruit more than 200 teachers. There are constraints in some schools which mean it will not be possible."

Glasgow's education convener Gordon Matheson said nearly 400 extra teachers would be needed to pursue the "flawed and totally unfunded class size reduction policy".

Other local authorities insist they were being forced to make savings by increasing class sizes to maximum or creating composite classes.

In East Renfrewshire, parents at the over-subscribed Netherlee Primary School have been told four primary 2 classes will be reduced to just three primary 3s - with a composite P2/3 class for the rest.

The council's education chief Mhairi Shaw told parents in a letter seen by the Sunday Mail: "This year, the policy on primary school classification has been more rigorously applied and Netherlee is one of 14 primary schools affected."

Aberdeen City Council told headteachers to achieve "efficiencies" by operating at "maximum class size".

Last week, we revealed that SNP ministers were warned in July that their election commitment to cut class sizes to 18 in primaries one to three would be impossible to achieve.

Local authorities blame the SNP council tax freeze.

Mum-of-two Zoe MacLeod, whose kids are at Netherlee Primary, said: "East Renfrewshire council are blaming the SNP government but it seems to me that the council are using this as a way to excuse themselves from looking at other possible savings.

"But this should not be a political issue at all. It's the children who are suffering at the end of the day."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The local government settlement included a special provision to maintain teacher numbers in the face of falling school rolls.

"By maintaining teacher numbers in the face of falling rolls, Glasgow has scope to employ 60 teachers to drive down class sizes this year.

"Similarly, Edinburgh has falling rolls and scope to reduce class sizes."

'It's the children who are suffering in all this'

THEN

THE SNP said in their 2007 manifesto: "We will reduce class sizes in Primary 1, 2 and 3 to 18 pupils or less, to give children more time with their teacher at this vital stage of their development."

NOW

EDUCATION Secretary Fiona Hyslop said in February 2008: "The concordat between the Scottish government and COSLA is quite clear that local government, as a whole, will deliver smaller class sizes.

"We trust local authorities to be able to manage their own situation and deliver the changes we need.

"We are encouraging them to ensure that class sizes are reduced initially, where possible, in areas of deprivation - because that's where the biggest impact will be."

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