School budget plans condemned

Councillor Brian Bloomfield has condemned the recent primary school budget cuts and urged parents to write to the Education Department during the consultation process that has now been extended to October 28.

By The Newsroom

Published 25th Oct 2013, 16:00 BST

The Councillor said that the current funding proposals may fix one problem but will create far worse problems.

“I wish to condemn Education Minister, John O’Dowd, for his plans to cut the vast majority of Primary School budgets in order to redirect the money towards a minority of others,” he said.

“The Department of Education is consulting on proposed changes as to how annual school budgets are calculated.

“I have seen the projected impact which these changes would have on our local school budgets and it is frightening. The vast majority (about 80%) would see their budgets cut dramatically, in many cases losing between £5,000 and £10,000. While Mr O’Dowd may be trying to justify these cuts my response would be to question why four fifths of the schools should now pay the price for a problem the Department should have been tackling long before now.”

John O'Dowd Primary school