Teachers warn budget changes will lead to cuts in schools

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Teaching unions have warned that changes to budgeting rules designed to “empower” head teachers will in fact force them to make severe cuts to their schoolsThe EIS has accused councillors of “passing the buck” for education cuts onto head teachers, forcing them to make tough decisions on providing education with reduced funds for all schools from primary to secondary.Their concern comes from draft proposals for the changes to what is known as Devolved School Management (DSM).First introduced in the 1990s, DSM essentially means head teachers control the spending in their schools.

The latest revision to the policy however cuts the amount of money available to each school and introduces new rules on funding for staff cover costs.Heather Hughes, local EIS secretary and chair of the Local Negotiating Committee for Teachers (LNCT) outlined specific areas of concern about the revised plans including changes to funding for additional staffing which will, unions believe, result in senior teaching staff being used to cover for sickness absences in addition to admin duties.The draft proposals for the changes will be decided by councillors when the Education Executive meets before the start of the summer holidays in June, with the intention to introduce the new DSM rules at the start of the new school year in August.Greg Welsh, head of primary education, outlined the results of working group discussions with the county’s headteachers in a recent report to the Education Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (PDSP).Mr Welsh said: “West Lothian Council agreed to achieve an education and schools-based saving of £8.223 million over five years commencing in August, through a review of resources in Education, including budget allocations