Cowen warns against further cuts to Offaly schools Quinn must resist making more mistakes with education budget Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen has raised grave concerns about the government’s plans to slash €100 million from the education budget next year. The Offaly deputy says such dramatic cuts would hit every school and every student in the Midlands. “This is more than double the level of cuts originally targeted by the Education Minister Ruairí Quinn. Taking €44 million out of an already under-resourced education system was bad enough, but cutting €100 million will have very serious consequences for schools in Offaly and across the country that are under enough pressure as it is,” said Deputy Cowen. “There simply isn’t scope to take so much out of the education budget without directly affecting the quality of our children’s education. Class sizes in many Offaly schools have already crept up and the impact of cuts to classroom supports is kicking in. Further significant increases in class sizes would be a major step back for our local schools and for the Irish education system as a whole. “Children with special needs have been the worst effected by Minister Quinn’s cuts so far. The dramatic reductions in SNA supports have had a serious impact on the most vulnerable children within the school system and on the classroom environment. It is these children, who are struggling in class and suffering as a result of cuts to one-to-one supports, who will become even more lost if class sizes increase further. “In addition to these further education cuts planned in the upcoming budget, small schools in Offaly and across rural Ireland are under increasing threat of dramatic cuts and forced amalgamation as a result of this government’s misguided policies. It means that some communities here could lose their local school under a targeted campaign of cuts to schools with less than 80 pupils. “Minister Quinn has made many mistakes in his handling of the education budget over the past two years, some of which he has been forced to row back on. I am urging him against making more mistakes that could have very serious consequences for our local schools and could set the education system back decades.”
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 12:17:33 +0000
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