PRIMARY SCHOOLS SHORT-CHANGED

12.09.44pm GMT Fri 18th Feb 2005

The Challenges Facing Kent Primary Schools.

At the meeting of Kent County Council on Thursday, which set the budget for 2005/06, Cllr Martin Vye, Liberal Democrat Spokesman for Education, accused the Tory administration of not taking seriously the challenges facing Kent Primary Schools.

The Government has passed legislation which guarantees that every teacher shall have 10% of their working week free from classroom contact to prepare lessons. However, the money they have given the County to pass on to schools covers only a quarter or less of the cost.

Martin said: "Take a small primary school that I know. We are told that the extra money the Government has put in equates to £30 per pupil. For this school this comes to about £3,600. But to cover the 10% of each teacher's time by employing an extra member of staff will cost the school about £14,000 a year. The school will have to cut back on other essential expenditure in order to give its teachers the non-contact time to which they are entitled."

Martin proposed that the County Council should itself put £1.3 million extra into primary school budgets to cover the cost.

Martin concluded: "This money could easily come out of the fund to pay interest on new borrowings. The County at the moment is only able to get through about one half of its proposed capital programme in a year. This £1.3 million will simply not be needed for this purpose next year. On the other hand it could really help to ensure primary schools do not have to make painful cutbacks to the education of our children."