A cost-cutting plan to make Dundee schools cover all staff absences out of their own budget will “penalise” pupils for their teachers falling pregnant, a Labour candidate has warned.
The city council wants to save £4 million from next year’s education budget and has put forward 19 proposals to save the money. The plan includes a measure requiring head teachers to meet the costs of long-term staff absences out of their individual budget. It is claimed this would save around £120,000 a year across Dundee.
Currently, each school’s devolved budget is used to cover short-term absences of up to 20 working days, but a central fund is used to bring in temporary staff to cover longer periods of absence. The central fund would no longer be available under the plans drawn up by the council’s SNP administration.
A report on the matter last month by director of education Jim Collins said, “This would give schools greater flexibility and a more efficient use of resources, at the same time making schools more accountable.”
But the Education Institute of Scotland (EIS) has already warned that schools would be forced to cut back on other areas of spending if they are hit by a string of absences. Now Jenny Marra, Labour’s regional list candidate for North East Scotland in the forthcoming Holyrood elections, has claimed the move will essentially punish pupils for their teachers falling ill or pregnant.Risk”How can you run the risk of one school having to pay for three maternity leaves and a long-term illness when the school down the road has none?” she said. “That head teacher would have to pay thousands for absence cover while cutting back on classroom assistants, building repairs and books.
“Absence risk was previously spread across the council ensuring that schools and pupils were not penalised for staff pregnancies and illnesses.”
Ms Marra added that the move was “bound to have an impact” on staff recruitment.
The full council is due to vote on the measure next week.
A spokesman for Dundee City Council said, “A review of the devolved school management scheme will form part of the administration budget proposals to be put before the council on February 10.”
It is anticipated up to 300 staff could take advantage of an early retirement scheme that will be offered next year, but the local authority has pledged that teacher numbers will not be cut.