The closure of some of Fife’s crumbling schools is ”inevitable” as the council battles to bridge a £70 million funding gap.
Senior councillors have admitted for the first time that a number of buildings will shut at the end of an ambitious review of the entire school estate.
Until now, the ruling Labour group has spoken about probable mergers as it looks to run school buildings more efficiently.
However, they have now confirmed suspicions that closure is on the cards for buildings considered to be in an unacceptable condition.
Council leader Alex Rowley made it clear that no decision would be taken before a comprehensive consultation with communities across the region.
Discussions will be held with every parent council and other interested parties over the next few weeks to decide how to ensure all Fife schools are fit for purpose.
Speaking at a meeting of Fife Council’s executive committee, education spokesman Bryan Poole said: ”I think it is inevitable some of these schools will close.
”We have some schools in an appalling condition that we should not be sending children to.
”Buildings aren’t the most important thing, it’s quality of teaching that matters. But we do have schools which have water coming through the roof.
”You can’t teach in these conditions.”
Mr Poole said the money saved by closing deteriorating buildings should be reinvested in better facilities, and added: ”That will be welcomed by everybody.”
He told members the issue must be explored, but warned: ”I don’t think we should be making any assumptions about anything at this stage.
”We need to get out and listen to people and take this forward based on as much hard evidence as we can.”
Mr Rowley conceded the council was facing tough challenges, adding: ”There’s a broad acceptance there are school buildings in Fife that are not fit for purpose and inevitably in the next year or so will close.”
He said it would be wrong to start speculating about which schools would close so early in the review as a large number of discussions and a high level of scrutiny were needed first.
Fife has 142 primary schools, 19 secondary schools, 17 stand-alone nurseries, six special schools and four pupil support centres, many of which were built in the 1950s and 60s.
The condition of 18 primary school buildings have been rated as poor, with two secondary and 14 primaries rated good and the rest satisfactory.
In addition, some schools are facing accommodation pressures as rolls increase due to the creation of new housing developments.
Others are running well below capacity and cost more per pupil to run.
The council has agreed that every school should have an occupancy rate of no less than 60%.
Consideration should also be given, it said, to establishing a minumum number of pupils in any school less than five miles from another school.
Mr Rowley added: ”We can’t afford to spend significant amounts of money maintaining failing buildings and funding surplus school places.
”In some cases, we are spending five times as much on one primary school place as we do on another.
”We have a responsibility to spend Fife taxpayers’ money on creating learning environments for our children that are fit for purpose now and in the future.”