Schools in Argyll and Bute face disaster, parents warned this week. A broad-based “Support Our Schools Campaign” has accused the Government of discriminating against the Independent-run local authority and demanded extra cash for education.
In an angry letter to the Scottish Secretary, George Craig, a campaign leader who is a parent member of Dunoon Grammar school board, wrote: “The school boards, parents, pupils and communities of Argyll and Bute find it quite incongruous that the Secretary of State is fully aware of the financial disaster presently crippling education in our area, and yet he and the Prime Minister continue to make public statements stressing the Government’s commitment to additional funding for education.”
The campaign claims Argyll and Bute faces a Pounds 4 million shortfall, mostly for education, compared with what the former Strathclyde Region had to spend. The council has already backed down from closing Kerrera primary near Oban despite the fact that it will have no pupils next session.
Meanwhile Inverclyde Council launched plans today (Friday) to embark on a closures programme. It is likely that three of the authority’s 32 primaries will have to close to cut costs.
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