No funding for Foyle and Ebrington until 2012/13

THE Foyle and Londonderry/Ebrington co-location project will not receive Government funding until 2012/13 at the earliest under Education Minister Caitríona Ruane's new draft budget proposals.

But despite the proposed cuts to the Department of Education's (DE) capital programme longfingering the joint project until at least 2012/13, Ebrington Principal Nigel Dougherty has vowed to continue to make the case for progress on the much needed new school site.

"If it is stalled for 12 months or so we are going to have to continue to beat the drum for our project," said Mr Dougherty. "Foyle deserves a new school. And if you look at it, most of the Controlled schools in the city send 50 per cent of their pupils to Foyle.

"The arguments are there as they always have been. Magee has no room to expand. We are in a 50-year-old building ourselves with a growing maintenance bill.

"We will be looking - as we come up to the City of Culture year - to get all the politicians and the newspapers to get behind the project. We deserve a new school and we need a new school," said Mr Dougherty.

Last year the Foyle and Londonderry/Ebrington project was omitted from a list of 13 schools to be funded through a 23m DE capital roll-out in 2010/11.

Now under the Education Minister's 'Draft Budget 2011-15: Department of Education Draft Allocations and Savings Proposals' it appears Foyle's long-awaited move to the Waterside on a new joint site with Ebrington will not be funded until 2012/13 at the earliest.

Ms Ruane published details of her Department's draft budget last week and unfortunately one of her principal savings measures was a reduction in the capital schools budget.

The draft budget reads: "DE has invested significantly in new schools. The Executive agreed a 10-year investment strategy which had 108 schools. We have 54 built or under construction and 54 remain on the list to be built over the next 6 years.

"A further 112 are at various stages of planning. In light of the reductions, it will not be possible to commence any new schools in 2011-12. It is the intention that the 13 schools announced in August will go ahead subject to the necessary approvals."

It adds: "The significant reduction in the resource and capital budgets for Education will require a comprehensive rethink as to how the limited capital funds available should be deployed in a strategic and prioritised basis to address the most pressing needs, and ensure that teaching and learning are conducted in a environment which supports the delivery of education policies."

Elsewhere, the draft budget proposes cutting the funding for free school bus passes and computers for schools.

Professional Support for schools will also be cut whilst savings are also proposed by utilising local learning partnerships like the Foyle Learning Community and the Roe Valley Learning Community to maximise efficiencies in the delivery of a wide curriculum with "greater collaboration to avoid the duplication of provision within areas of unsustainably small class sizes, particularly at sixth form."

The cost of vetting checks for teachers and classroom assistants will, in future, be borne by the candidate rather than the employer.

"The cost of pre-employment vetting checks in Education is currently borne by the employer. The Department intends to deliver savings by transferring the cost of the AccessNI pre-employment vetting check to the person who is to be offered the job," it is proposed. This will save 1m per annum.

DE also intends saving money on school meals, goods, services and energy bills.

It also wants to reduce the 2009/10 7.8m bill for substitute cover for teachers absent due to illness.

"Assuming the target of 6 days average teacher sickness absence is achieved by March 2011, the 2010/11 notional baseline is 6.2m. A reduction to 5 days by March 2015 would generate a saving of 1m," the draft proposal states.

In summation the document states: "The savings measures outlined in this document therefore reflect the level of savings required for the Department to manage its budget over the next four years, equating to approximately 300m by 2015."