Falkirk council say £145m being held back over teacher numbers row should be released

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Falkirk councillors are calling on the Scottish Government to hand over £145.5 million being held back from councils until agreement is reached on teacher numbers.

An amendment by Falkirk Council 's Labour group, calling for the cash to be allocated "without restriction", was accepted by all parties, including the SNP administration.

Falkirk's share of the cash is £4.5 million, which the Scottish Government is refusing to hand over until it reaches a voluntary agreement with all councils, through their national body, CoSLA. Read more: End to Scottish council tax freeze welcomed by Falkirk Council leader The Scottish Government has set a target for each local authority to maintain teacher numbers at their 2022 levels.But CoSLA says these targets are being set regardless of changes to the pupil roll or the financial position of the council and it believes local authorities should have more power to decide how money is spent.Falkirk Council says the target is "artificial" as the latest census shows that the number of pupils has actually fallen.Its target, for several years, has been 1651 but falling school rolls means that the actual number of teachers needed is now more like 1620.

The council will now write to the government to say that "teacher numbers should be allocated to local councils without restrictions and they should be allowed to make the appropriate decisions on teacher numbers according to local needs".