Specialist teachers in Angus primary schools have been dropped in a £300,000-a-year money-saving move.
As youngsters celebrated the start of their summer holidays, the close of the school year marked the end of an era in local education.
Visiting art, music and PE specialists for the area’s 51 primary schools were axed as part of this year’s budget cuts.
Council chiefs say Angus was one of the last remaining local authorities to provide the service.
But there has been fresh criticism of the decision from councillors who tried to save the posts.
In February, both the opposition and non-aligned groups on the council put forward alternatives.
The move failed when the SNP administration’s budget was voted through.
It froze Angus Council tax and made a £6 million raid on reserves to balance the books.
Education officials say existing staff will become part of the core staffing allocation for Angus and there will be no redundancies.
‘Letting learners down’
But Angus opposition leader, Arbroath Conservative Derek Wann condemned the cut.
“There’s a very good reason we wanted to keep these teachers in the budget,” said Mr Wann.
“Many children are now going to head into secondary school with little academic or practical experience in music and art.
“It’s likely this decision will have consequences in S1 – just putting the problem off for a couple of years.
“I think this decision by the SNP administration will come back to haunt them when future exam results come in.
He added: “There is little merit in saying Angus is among the last to fail young people in this way.
“That’s no use to families here and now.
“This is just further consequences of the SNP Government in Edinburgh not providing a fair budget to local authorities and our short-sighted administration group at Angus Council letting our learners down.”
Brechin Independent Jill Scott said: “The non-aligned members were dead against this idea.
“We wanted to at least see the visiting specialists retained at 50% of what was in the spending plan.
“And saying that other councils have done it before Angus doesn’t make it any better – it’s another cut for our young learners.”
A spokesperson for teachers’ union EIS said: “Visiting specialist teachers in primary schools play a vital role in delivering a high-class educational experience for young people.
“The loss of visiting specialists in areas such as PE, music and art places an even greater workload burden on class teachers, and robs young people of the opportunity to benefit from the expertise of subject specialist teachers in these curricular areas.”
Row over early years cut
The decision comes amidst a row over the removal of 22 Early Years Practitioners from local P1 classrooms.
Covid recovery funding was used to deliver the £700,000 programme but that money has now run out.
Union chiefs have slated a decision to bar councillors from considering the issue because it was an “operational” decision.
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