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Board members called for more money for education provision
in its area, which covers the districts of Armagh, Banbridge,
Cookstown, Craigavon, Dungannon, and Newry and Mourne. The
Board’s headquarters are in Armagh.
SELB chairperson Moira Alexander said: “The SELB has
the largest pupil population (88,600) of Northern Ireland’s
five Education and Library Board’s. However, this is
not adequately reflected in the money allocated to the Board
each year. The delegation expressed the hope that the budget
for the 2004/2005 financial year will address this unfair
situation.
“Board members expressed disappointment that the operation
of the Common Formula for school funding, which would benefit
our schools, has again been postponed by the Department of
Education.
“The perception in schools in the Southern Board area
is that the Department believes rural boards like the SELB
can continue to manage with a low and unfair allocation. The
Department should take the hard decision to phase in the Common
Formula and transfer funds from relatively over-funded boards
and sectors.
“The delegation told the Department that failure to
provide adequate funding has contributed to an upward trend
in the number of schools in the Board area operating with
a deficit. Pupils to teacher ratios have risen as schools
are forced to make redundancies, which should not be necessary,
in an attempt to balance their books. Teacher redundancy costs
have almost doubled from £568,299 in the 2001/02 financial
year to £991,590 in the present (2003/04) year.
“Turning to Special Education, the SELB delegation called
for the introduction of a new method of funding, already being
considered by the Department, which would see money allocated
on the basis of a percentage of the school age population.
Under this method the SELB’s allocation for Special
Needs provision would increase by almost £4million over
the financial year.
“Board members said they expected costs arising from
the rural nature and sparse population of much of the SELB
area to be taken into account in determining funding for 2004/05.
“The Department was also urged to review its transport
policy with relation to: the statutory walking distance from
school; the impact of exceptional road safety hazards on this
policy; and concessionary transport.
“Board members welcomed this opportunity to meet with
the Permanent Secretary to raise these concerns.
“Our aim is to secure high quality provision for the
individual, young child or adult who depends on our services,
and we hope our meeting will go towards helping the Board
deliver on that.”
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