Nearly 1,000 people have signed a Fife mother’s petition against “stealthy” and “fearsome” school budget cuts.
Josephine Bryden from Aberdour launched an online campaign last week against Fife Council’s plan to cut £4 million from the education service budget over the next two years, including almost £2m from secondary school coffers.
The mother-of-two fears the decision will cause irreparable damage to the education of young people in the region.
The petition lodged with change.org coincides with a motion submitted at the Scottish Parliament by North East Fife Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie, calling on colleagues to express their concern over the budget.
Mrs Bryden, whose children go to Balwearie High in Kirkcaldy, said she had decided to act out of sheer frustration.
“How can some of Fife’s secondary schools be expected to find hundreds of thousands of pounds of savings when most are already operating on a shoestring?” she said.
“I am deeply concerned about the impact upon our teachers too.”
Bell Baxter, Madras, Waid, Balwearie and Inverkeithing have been hit with the biggest budget cuts and among the options already put forward by head teachers are moving to a four-day school week, cutting Higher and Advanced Higher subject choices, reducing teacher numbers and scrapping PE.
“These cuts are a devastating blow to both teachers and pupils,” Mrs Bryden said.
“Fife’s already stretched schools desperately need our support.
“We are delighted to have the support of more than 900 people already and very much hope that numbers will keep increasing to encourage Fife Council to listen.”
Mr Rennie said it was unfair for one area of a local authority to shoulder such a large burden and added: “I’m sending a clear message to Fife House that we are utterly opposed to their plans.
“More pupils and teachers will suffer when these cuts come in to bite.”
Fife Council’s head of education Shelagh McLean has said delivering quality teaching and learning remained fundamental.
“This session we will continue to consider, with teaching staff and unions, ways to ensure that each school has a fair allocation of budget according to its size and to give more discretion to head teachers to use their budget to best suit their local needs,” she said.
