Sunday, January 21, 2018

Highland wide campaign gets underway against proposed Highland Council Additional Support Needs Educaiton cuts

Last week we published a letter to MSPs from a local mother concerned about these proposed cuts. You can read that letter here. 

A campaign page is now available on Facebook "Highland ASN Education Cuts Action Group" and there is a twitter account too @AgainstASNCuts .

The action group describe themselves thus:

"Highland ASN Education Cuts Action Group are calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to halt Highland Council proposed budget cuts to Educational Support Services without an Equality Impact Assessment and full consultation with the public, specifically including all official additional needs charities. 

Highland Council have suggested that as part of their proposed budget cuts there will be cuts to Autism Support, Additional Support Needs Staff, Pupil Support Assistants, Educational Psychology and Behavioural Support. These cuts will have a devastating impact on children and families in the Highlands. These schools are already struggling with tight budgets and overstretched staff. We have to ensure NO child loses out as a result of council budget cuts - taking money away from any of our schools is wrong. Children are already struggling to get the support they need in school and some of those who need one to one support are not getting it as support staff numbers are cut. Inclusion is a Government policy, yet they are not funding it. This is not inclusion, this is discrimination! The Scottish Government has said education is its priority and it wants to close the attainment gap. Why then does the Scottish Government not increase funding to schools and ring fence that money? They pass responsibility on to the councils. It is not good enough. Children’s life chances are being adversely affected by the cuts in education. It is not sustainable to place children with additional support needs in mainstream schools and then cut their support. Children’s education should be a priority. The Scottish Government has a policy called Getting It Right For Every Child. But they are not implementing that policy. We have to stop these harmful cuts from happening."

Please have a look at what they have to say readers, their page is here.  

A demonstration is planned for outside Glengurquhart Road, the Headquarters of the Highland Council, on the 15th of February, the day of the budget cuts meeting. Further details of the demonstration on this social media event page here. 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Protests don't produce money and that's what's needed to keep all of our services running. One thing is for sure, there'll be cuts and maybe people aren't aware of the huge amount that Highland Council will need to make this year and for the foreseeable future.

https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/10690/budget_update

Anonymous said...

By law, the Council is required to set a balanced budget for every financial year. Something they have clearly failed to do for several years.