ASCL NI president warns school funding is on a precipice

As reported by the ASCL, Northern Ireland president, Graham Montgomery, has warned that school funding is on a precipice and called for immediate action to be taken

When addressing the ASCL NI annual conference, held at Culloden Estate and Spa in Belfast, he made the case for a fair and sustainable funding model for the future.

“Our members are tired of trying to run their schools with inadequate funding,” he stated.
 
“Schools are a reflection of the communities they serve, and it should be both possible and desirable to maintain a cost effective, streamlined but pluralistic education system providing choice, opportunity and enrichment. We are stating clearly today that school funding is on a precipice and action needs to be taken now to develop a sustainable and fair funding model for the future.”
 
This model must include a fair, fully funded pay settlement for staff, he argued in his presidential address.
 
“Teachers stepped up during the pandemic: learning new skills, extending their pupil wellbeing and safeguarding measures, and working increased hours, whilst simultaneously coping with all the challenges all families faced in that time of crisis. Schools remained open, teachers took on the almost impossible task of working two different grading systems in two consecutive years – and they did so with professionalism and integrity. To continue to pay teachers inadequately not only perpetuates an injustice but it sends a strong signal to our young people that the work teachers and schools do is not valued and it acts as a disincentive to young people to enter the profession.
 
“When the pay settlement comes it is essential that it’s properly funded from the centre. Schools simply cannot be left to find money for salaries from already overstretched operational budgets.”