Despatches from a mother who started late (and is running to catch up)

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Choosing trams over education?

The carnival against Edinburgh education budget cuts took place last week. Children, teachers and parents gathered in the front quad at the Council's Victorian City Chambers. Shouted, sang and waved placards.

I would never have dared go along, without fellow parent and musician Susanna Macdonald. But we both have school-age children. And parenting makes you militant, you see. It makes you care, where previously you might not have.

A couple of days later Edinburgh Council passed the proposed 1% budget cut. Despite our protests. So there will be £2m less for Edinburgh schools from this April, bringing the budget down to £198m.

Schools were already under pressure, even without this latest set-back. Anecdotal stories exist of parents having to buy children jotters. Maybe not such a problem for more affluent families, but what about the ones who are struggling? You hear of broken plumbing that goes without repair for weeks.

The cut will mean fewer learning assistants, the end of specialist teachers in drama, art, PE and music and further delays to building repairs. There will be fewer books and learning materials.

The Edinburgh tram project is costing the city more than twice as much (£512m) as the entire annual education budget for the city. Really, sometimes I could get quite annoyed about how Edinburgh Council is using our money.

Posted 14 February 2010 12:11

Edinburgh

Comments

Cat said:

Of course here they have a Sustainable Budget Commission - looking for $750m savings each year from now on. They pay the members of it $3000 a day - and still had the nerve to ask me to do something for nothing. I come to the conclusion all governments are the same. People should go on strike and refuse to use the trams.

Posted 14 February 2010 20:34

Helen said:

We will be lucky to get a chance to use those trams in our lifetimes. It's not that I have anything against the trams, great if we could afford them, but we obviously can't and sometimes you have to prioritise, when there's not much money around. In my book, education wins out over trams any day.

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