A total of 21 teaching jobs will be lost if Fife Council’s plans to close seven primary schools go ahead, it has been claimed.
The figures have been quantified by SNP group leader Peter Grant who had challenged the Labour-led council to “come clean” about the claimed financial savings from the closures.
On April 9 Fife Council’s executive committee agreed to pursue consultation on proposals to close seven schools Tanshall, Pitcorthie, Rathillet, Dunino, New Gilston, Wellwood, Crombie following a five-month review of the school estate.
The council had previously warned that the closure of some of Fife’s crumbling schools was “inevitable” as the council battles to bridge a £70 million funding gap.
Council leader Alex Rowley made it clear the savings from the proposed school closures would be minimal and later revealed the council was exploring other efficiencies, including the possibility of pupils having Friday afternoons off to reduce the council’s use of costly supply teachers.
But Mr Grant said: “The original executive committee report claimed that the closures were about making better use of buildings. Councillors were not told where the savings would come from and maybe now we know why the council chose not to tell us.
“The fact is that the only savings of any size come from cutting jobs 21 teachers, five other school-based staff and an unknown number of janitorial staff.
“These are full-time-equivalent numbers. Many non-teaching staff in schools are part-time so the number of people whose jobs will go could well be higher. The council hopes to save £885,000 from these job cuts.
“By comparison, savings on property costs, which were supposed to be the justification for closing all these schools, amount to just £243,000 hardly enough to cover the costs of bussing children out of their local communities to go to school somewhere else.
“On top of that, many of the savings on property costs will also impact on council jobs. Services like grounds maintenance, energy management and waste management are provided by other council departments, so what looks like a saving to education could be a job cut somewhere else in the council.”
Mr Rowley said: “We have, throughout this review, outlined the significant and continued challenges for the school estate in Fife. The main challenge is that, as a result of demographic changes over a number of years, we now have a number of schools that are significantly under-occupied, whilst other schools, primarily in areas of recent housing development, face accommodation pressures from increased pupil rolls.
“We continue to encounter challenges relating to the costs of maintaining our ageing and deteriorating buildings which also have a negative impact on our achievement of carbon-reduction targets.
“The current proposals, put forward by the officers of the education service, aim to start the process of addressing these challenges.
“Equally, we have outlined the fact that Fife Council does face a significant budget ‘gap’ in future years and steps to address this will be required. The information provided to parents made clear the budget issues facing the education service, including the fact that reducing the number of under-occupied buildings would result in some direct financial savings and reduce the overall costs of maintaining our buildings. This is preferable to looking at savings which will directly impact on frontline service delivery.
“It is irresponsible to suggest that this review is about cutting jobs. This review has taken place to ensure that our school buildings meet a number of key criteria and that all children in Fife are taught in buildings which are fit for purpose. Where necessary, all staff will be re-deployed in other schools and the council managing change policy will be followed.”