VEC schools brace for loss of 15 teachers

Budget cutbacks will mean the effective loss of 15 teachers to VEC schools across Meath, a special meeting of the county"s Vocational Education Committee heard last week. VEC schools will also lose most of their free book schemes and parents will also face sharp increases in transport charges, CEO Peter Kierans warned as he addressed members at a meeting in Navan last Friday. The VEC has unanimously agreed to seek a meeting with the all Meath TDs and senators while also calling for information nights to to held at which parents can be about the extent of the education budget cuts. Mr Kierans detailed the demands of a Department of Education letter dating from August for a three per cent reduction of payroll costs next year and the effect of the budget on education services. One of the 26 projects approved for building in the Budget was Dunboyne, but it was proving 'very hard' to get a letter confirming this, he said. Reduced teacher-pupil ratios would mean 15 fewer teachers while the limit of just two language support teachers per school would prove very difficult for Beaufort College, Navan, in particular. It has over 110 pupils whose first language is not English and currently seven such teachers instructed these students before they entered the classroom. The suspension of sick/in-service training cover from next January would create further difficulties while the suspending of the early retirement scheme effectively prevented the hiring of lower-paid young teachers, the CEO said. The grants cuts to Dunboyne College alone would take €40,000 off its budget while the loss of capitation funding for Travellers will mean €12,000 less for Beaufort College. The withdrawal of the school books fund from all but Beaufort, St Fintina"s Post-Primary School in Longwood and O"Carolan College, Nobber, will mean €50,000 less to the county and cause particular difficulties in Laytown. Currently, 4,100 pupils benefit from the scheme countywide. The past practice of all pupils having the same bundle of books without discrimination would go, said Mr Kierans. He was joined by members in urging the Government to switch the €40 million extra nationally allocated for more special needs assistants (SNAs). The county"s principals said they did not need extra SNAs but this funding would pay for 800 extra teachers countrywide. The new transport charges are to be €300 per pupil, €600 for two children and €650 for three or more children from the same family, added Mr Kierans. The €600 had to be paid in September, which 'seems terribly punitive'. Mr Kierans added that the comprehensive redeployment of teachers would mean real cuts to the VEC sector, much harder than either secondary or community schools who would keep their teachers. The cutbacks were frightening, said Fianna Fail Cllr Tommy Reilly, who added he was bitterly disappointed by the transport charge rises. He said they needed a meeting with Oireachtas members to get these 'disgusting, draconian' cuts overturned. Education would be driven back 15 years by this 'slash and burn' budget, said Cllr Joe Reilly of Sinn Fein. Meath VEC schools were enrolling over 250 more pupils every year and it would not be possible to meet their needs after these cuts. The five fewer language support teachers in Beaufort College would be a huge loss, while parents faced a huge burden from the transport charge increases, he said. Fianna Fáil"s Cllr Jimmy Mangan said it was quite obvious no consideration had been given to the needs of education. There was a contradiction in Meath"s increasing enrolment and the withdrawal of the teachers" early retirement scheme. Education had brought the inward investment of the economic boom and the needs of the VEC sector should have been given more serious consideration by Oireachtas members, he said. Teachers representative Marie Lawlor said the book scheme cutbacks would place particular difficulties on O"Carolan College, Nobber, where she taught. 'It"s very difficult to extract money from families where the money isn"t there, and the extra transport costs will give rise to absenteeism,' she added. Parents had to be mobilised as neither teachers nor the VECs could do anything without their support. Parents" representative Ellen Govigan said a school principal had described the cuts as the toughest he had seen in 38 years, with his school budget set to fall by 12 per cent. Where were transition year pupils to go when their funding was cut? She urged the VEC to say no and mobilise parents. Labour Cllr Tommy Grimes said the cuts would affect very many staff and leave the CEO facing 'very awkward and hard decisions'. He foresaw principals and teachers 'trying to cover up for children who cannot afford proper education' and he criticised the early cut-off date for payment of transport charges. 'People at the bottom, and pupils of low-income families, will suffer most,' he said. Cllr John Farrelly of Fine Gael said VEC members feared the three per cent payroll cut for 2009 sought last August by the Department would be a lot more. The county stood to lose six per cent of its teachers and 4,100 pupils would suffer under the books scheme cuts. He said two-thirds of Oireachtas members had voted for this budget and they should have known better, particularly Transport Minister Noel Dempsey, a former member and chairman of the VEC. Cllr Noel Leonard criticised cuts to the books scheme. He urged parents be involved and supported an early meeting with Oireachtas members. Cllr Joe Reilly"s motion, calling for the rejection of the cuts, the holding of information nights for parents by school principals, the circularising of all VECs countrywide and mobilisation of each school"s board of management was seconded by Cllr Farrelly.