Stop education cuts – governors

School governors in Conwy have said they can’t take anymore cuts to budgets.
In a letter to the minister of education, Kirsty Williams, they said that schools needed to know how much money they would be getting.
Huw Roberts, Chair of the Conwy Governors Association argued in the letter that cuts to council spending were hitting schools hard and could be detrimental to the future prospects of children in the county.
He said: “The lack of clarity for any impending comprehensive spending review and the fact that it will take time to respond to the recommendations of the Children and Young People and Education Committee’s ‘Report on School Funding in Wales’ means there is a real worry in the short-term.
“School budgets have been cut to the bone this year, already leading to staff redundancies and larger class sizes which is highly likely to impact on standards.  I’m sure you can appreciate, these conditions are also having a detrimental impact on staff morale and workload.”
The report from the commissioner here was a school  budget gap of £109M in 2019-20 which will rise to £319M in 2022-23.
More than £8m has been cut from education in the county over the last four years, according to teaching unions.
Primary schools in Conwy have taken the biggest brunt of the funding reductions, losing around £4.9m. Secondary schools have lost out on around £2.5m.
Mr Roberts added: “We want our headteachers and school staff to be able to deliver the very highest standard of education possible. The current level of funding is just not enough to deliver what is required of us. I reiterate again that the Conwy Governors Association is clear that any further cuts for 2020-21 would risk children in our schools being unable to reach their full potential.”
Cllr Sam Rowlands, the leader of Conwy Council, has also been lobbying the Welsh Government for more funding.
He said: “I welcome and value the support of governors from across the county in seeking fair funding into schools from Welsh Government.  We are doing the same as locally elected members and will continue to work hard to seek the funding from Welsh Government that we need to deliver all the services our residents need. “
The Welsh Government has been asked to comment.

By Shane Brennan – Local Democracy Reporter