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22/04/2016
UUP Slams Education Minister Over Schools Budget Cuts
The UUP has slammed the Education Minister following a joint statement from groups representing post-primary schools over budget cut deficits.
The statement said school budgets are "already stretched to breaking point by successive cuts in recent years".
UUP Education spokesperson, Sandra Overend, said Minister John O'Dowd has left a "budgetary mess".
She said: "In his time as Minister, there has been a yearly crisis surrounding the Aggregated Schools Budget- the money that goes directly to front-line teaching services in schools. Previously he always found extra money from behind the Departmental sofa, but this time he is leaving the problem for someone else to sort out.
"Back in January at Question Time in the Assembly, I directly asked the Minister to make a commitment that the Aggregated Schools Budget would not be cut in the 2016-17 budget. He would not give me such a commitment, despite both Sinn Féin and the DUP boasting about what a great budget settlement they had agreed for 2016/2017.
"Then in March at the committee, the Minister was questioned about the imminent extra pressures on school budgets including pay increases, pension contributions and National Insurance contributions, but he plainly stated that he had decided that schools would have to absorb these extra costs themselves. Quite clearly, the stated 0.8% decrease in the Aggregated Schools Budget is a vast underestimation."
(CD/LM)
The statement said school budgets are "already stretched to breaking point by successive cuts in recent years".
UUP Education spokesperson, Sandra Overend, said Minister John O'Dowd has left a "budgetary mess".
She said: "In his time as Minister, there has been a yearly crisis surrounding the Aggregated Schools Budget- the money that goes directly to front-line teaching services in schools. Previously he always found extra money from behind the Departmental sofa, but this time he is leaving the problem for someone else to sort out.
"Back in January at Question Time in the Assembly, I directly asked the Minister to make a commitment that the Aggregated Schools Budget would not be cut in the 2016-17 budget. He would not give me such a commitment, despite both Sinn Féin and the DUP boasting about what a great budget settlement they had agreed for 2016/2017.
"Then in March at the committee, the Minister was questioned about the imminent extra pressures on school budgets including pay increases, pension contributions and National Insurance contributions, but he plainly stated that he had decided that schools would have to absorb these extra costs themselves. Quite clearly, the stated 0.8% decrease in the Aggregated Schools Budget is a vast underestimation."
(CD/LM)
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