Councils fear the Government will strong-arm them into ditching cuts to teacher numbers by playing hardball on £145million of funding. Local authority chiefs believe the cash could be used as a “sanction” to prevent classroom savings.
Labour MSP Michael Marra said: “Panicking SNP ministers are now descending to fines instead of finance for hard-pressed councils. Ministers need to be putting resources into councils to avert these cuts. These people are meant to be running Scotland’s education. I wouldn’t send them out for a bag of chips.”
Councils are engaged in a stand-off with Ministers over how to plug a black hole in their budgets. Town hall leaders believe cuts to teaching posts have to be on the table if other services are to be protected.
