Minutes:
The Chief Executive reported that a request had been received from Mr. D. O’Neill, the Principal of Good Shepherd Primary School, to allow a deputation to address the Council on the potential impact of the proposed cuts to the Education budget.
The Council agreed to accede to the request and, accordingly, Mr. O’Neill, together with Mr. S. McNamee and Mr. J. Wallace, the principals of St. Paul’s Primary School and Stranmillis Primary School, respectively, were welcomed to the meeting.
Mr. McNamee thanked the Council for the opportunity to highlight the difficulties which would be faced by primary schools across Belfast, should the proposed cuts to the Education budget be implemented. He explained that teachers worked tirelessly to ensure that every child was provided with the opportunity to acquire a quality education and that, as the role of a teacher continued to evolve, schools were finding that their resources were continually being stretched and the services which they were able to provide were being restricted. That would, he pointed out, lead to increases in class sizes, which would limit the time which teachers would have available to work with small groups and with individual children, would reduce special educational needs provision and could, potentially, lead to the introduction of fees for those services which were offered currently either free of charge or at a highly subsidised rate. He concluded by stressing that continued cuts to the Education budget would have the inevitable effect of increasing rates of underachievement and creating a skills shortage and have a detrimental effect on society.
Mr. Wallace informed the Council that the deputation represented a group of at least forty-three principals from controlled, maintained, integrated and Irish medium primary schools from across Belfast and the wider area. He reported that, for the past six years, schools had been faced with cuts in their educational funding and that they had co-operated fully with the Department of Education by making the necessary reductions to staffing levels and resources. Despite that, they had been faced with an annual reduction in funding, to the extent that, this year, they would be unable to implement the cuts being imposed upon them and offer a quality education to all of their pupils.
He reported further that, in March, the Department of Education had written to schools providing an update on the financial planning assumptions for the forthcoming financial year which, despite a definitive budget not having been agreed, had indicated clearly that primary schools would again be significantly affected. In April, the Secretary of State had announced a further reduction of 2.5% for primary school funding. Mr. Wallace made the point that the reductions being proposed currently by the Department of Education and by the Secretary of State would place a further burden upon primary schools, many of which had experienced financial difficulties in the previous year. He outlined the current budgetary position of Stranmillis Primary School and the difficulties which it too would face, should the proposed cuts be implemented, and pointed out that the aforementioned group of principals had agreed that they would continue to place the needs of pupils at the forefront of their decision-making and to exercise budgetary discretion and firm financial management within their schools. However, they would not be facilitating any further cuts to their school budgets, as those would have a lasting impact upon their pupils’ education and wellbeing and they would, reluctantly, be planning for deficit budgetary positions within the next three-year plans.
Accordingly, he urged the Council to issue a statement endorsing the principals’ campaign for adequate funding to be made available to primary schools and for individual Members to inform other Elected Representatives within their Political Parties of the campaign, with a view to eliciting their support.
The Lord Mayor thanked the deputation for their contribution and they retired from the meeting.
After discussion, the Council agreed that the Lord Mayor should forward to the Secretary of State a letter expressing the Council’s support for the primary school sector and its opposition to the proposed cuts to the Education budget. The Council agreed also that Members should draw the issue to the attention of their respective MLAs and MPs in order to obtain their support for the principals’ campaign.