Givan raises fears over schools cuts

Lagan Valley MLA Paul 
Givan, speaking at a debate in the assembly on Tuesday, criticised the proposed changes issued for consultation by the Department of Education.

He claimed that if the changes went ahead they would target the disadvantaged.

“I fail to understand why, in my constituency, the disadvantaged are the ones who are being robbed,” he said.

“Primary schools in my constituency are having money taken away and the two top-performing grammar schools in Northern Ireland, in my constituency, are going to be better off as a result of the changes that the Minister wants to put through.”

After the debate Mr Givan said they were flawed and fail to address the objective of targeting children and young people that need extra support.

“These proposals put schools against schools as money is moved from one school to another,” said Mr Givan. “There will be cuts to the budgets that will lead to job losses and ultimately children in these schools that need support will be disadvantaged.

“There will be schools in Lisburn losing £20,000-£30,000 per year with one school in particular 
facing a cut in its budget of £44,000.

“I have been speaking with principals about these proposals and there are very real concerns at the consequences of this change, should it be implemented,” he said.

“Alarmingly some schools that have children from socially disadvantaged areas will be faced with a reduction in their budget which runs contrary to the purpose of this change.

“The criteria being 
used to determine how much funding a school is allocated is flawed and the 
Department needs to go 
back to the drawing board and identify a better way of helping all children with educational needs in every school.”