The Education Authority has “reluctantly” agreed to £14 million in cuts and measures to reduce costs.
The EA’s board met to discuss budget pressures and said that the Authority faces an “unprecedented” £200 million funding gap.
While the Stormont Assembly remains collapsed it was left to Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris to set the region’s budget.
The Education Authority (EA) expects a funding gap of over £200 million in its allocation for the 2023/24 financial year, and its board held a special meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation.
It approved cuts of £14.1 million but said no to around £5.5 million of cuts. These will be submitted to the Department of Education for consideration.
EA chair Barry Mulholland warned that the body will not be able to live within this year’s budget without additional funding.
“Board members expressed grave concerns that any decisions to reduce expenditure by more than £200 million will impact every child in Northern Ireland and will also have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable and those from socially deprived areas,” he said.
“Given the scale of the shortage in funding; the fact that the majority of the education budget is spent on staffing in schools and services to schools (around 84%); and the policy and legislative change required in order to make any substantive cuts, EA will not be able to live within this year’s budget without additional and sustainable funding.”
He said a total of around £14 million in cuts and other measures to reduce costs were “regrettably and reluctantly agreed to be submitted to the Department of Education for their consideration”.
But he said around £5.5 million of cuts were not approved and will be subject to further impact assessment.
He added: “The board noted that the majority of measures required to deliver a balanced budget (over £200 million) require legislative and policy change, alongside investment in long-term transformation; were outside of EA’s authority to implement and deliver; and would require further consideration by the Department of Education.
“There has been a chronic underfunding over the last 10 years and we would repeat our calls for sustained investment in education and continued transformation of services.”
Reacting to the EA announcement, NASUWT National Official Justin McCamphill said: “The statement makes it clear that Education is now in a horrendous position. It is now clear that they only way EA can deliver the cuts demanded is via legislative change.
“In other words the law would need to be changed to make currrent statutory provision non-statutory so that it can be axed to meet the demands of the Westminster Government.
“No doubt there will be an expectation from some that teachers will pick up the slack. This will not happen. More than ever teachers and school leaders are committed to supporting the action short of strike action which is being undertaken by all 5 unions.”
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