Fife Council’s opposition education spokesperson, SNP councillor Douglas Chapman, has written to council leader Alex Rowley to ask questions about a proposed shake-up of the school week.
The Courier reported last week that Fife Council is exploring the possibility of a radical shake-up that could save the council £6 million a year by giving children Friday afternoons off.
It is investigating the possibility of reduced teaching time to save an estimated £3.5m a year in primary schools and £2.5m in secondary schools through less use of supply teachers, while protecting frontline education. Other options being explored would be a shorter school day and longer lunch breaks.
Mr Chapman said: “In the absence of any information from the Labour Group, parents, who are already struggling to make ends meet, will be worried about how they meet additional childcare costs if children are finishing school at Friday lunchtime.
“This idea was also brought forward by officers when we were in administration and we rejected the proposal time and time again. The SNP rationale for rejection was the effect such a decision would have on family budgets and that we were trying to protect teacher numbers. If Labour is planning to cut £6m out of schools budgets, you can’t make that kind of saving without affecting teachers’ jobs or their agreed terms and conditions.
“Either this is a firm proposal or Labour politicians are flying a kite to distract people from their school closures programme. If there are firm proposals then let us see the detail from the Labour Group and then have these assumptions tested in public consultation with parents, pupils and teachers across Fife.
“I have written to Alex Rowley to see if there is any substance to these rumours. We need to establish if there is any well-thought-out strategy here before the Labour Group make any more rash decisions about education in Fife.”
Mr Rowley said the proposals had to be seen in the context of the wider financial pressures facing Fife Council.
He said: “Fife Council will have to reduce its overall budget over the next four years by almost £100m. Given that the education service makes up 42% of the overall budget then there are some tough choices to be made in terms of education.
“That is why we have begun a process of parent meetings across Fife and will have another round of meetings before the summer where we will be setting out the difficulties we face in education and some of the options we are considering. Only through that process will we then make any decisions on future education budgets.
“When Douglas Chapman and his SNP colleagues were in charge of education, they balanced their budget by cutting maths and English teachers, cutting classroom assistants and cutting school playground supervisors and consulted with no one.
“We are not going to rush into making any decisions on the education budget, as we want to explore all the options through parent forums so that parents, teachers and, indeed, pupils are involved in what is, after all, their education service.
“The school day can be reorganised in many ways, such as longer lunch breaks, a shorter day, but the important point is that we are at this stage, putting these issues on the table for discussion with parents.
“Our objective is to take Fife’s education from the current position of below average in terms of performance to a new level of excellence. We will do this by having open and honest discussion around all the options available to us.”