Dundee’s poorest children will be ‘cast aside’ if the Scottish Government insists on cutting £4.9 million from funding to boost their educational attainment, councillors heard.
At a children and families committee meeting on Monday, councillors agreed to challenge the funding cuts from the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) grant over the next four years.
Dundee was allocated the cash after it was identified as one of nine local authorities with the highest levels of child poverty.
The Scottish Government, however, now plans to redistribute the SAC money to support deprived children across Scotland.
We are facing a generation of kids that will be cast aside because the government has taken a decision to redistribute money away from a city that has got the highest levels of deprivation.”
Councillor Charlie Malone
That means 22 specialist jobs will be scrapped from city schools, including those in speech therapy for nursery children, as the council looks to offset £1.2 million in the 2022/23 year.
However, amid fears these vital jobs could be lost forever, a cross-party agreement was reached to back an amendment, raised by Labour councillor Georgia Cruickshank, pleading the city’s case to have the cuts reversed.
Lochee Labour councillor Charlie Malone said Dundee’s youngest could not afford to lose the vital services which help them excel.
He said: “We are facing a generation of kids that will be cast aside because the government has taken a decision to redistribute money away from a city that has got the highest levels of deprivation.”
Education officers will now write to Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville to argue Dundee’s case for keeping the funding.
He continued: “It is taking away the future livelihoods of our children. It is taking away the hopes of parents who receive this funding that their children might become involved in mainstream education and have the same opportunities that come out of mainstream education after their school.”
Councillor Stewart Hunter, convener of the committee, said he did not want to see the children of Dundee suffer as a result of the cuts.
He said: “I absolutely accept the principle of trying to ensure that money is spent on young people in areas of poverty right across the country.
“I just don’t accept that it should be at the detriment of those cities or those local authorities that have already got significant finance coming from the government for that.”
Concerns were also raised about teacher workload as the committee heard many teachers would be trained to support children in place of the specialist roles.
