The Ulster Unionist Party’s Education spokesperson Danny Kinahan MLA has called for an extension to the Education Department’s current consultation regarding changes to the Common Funding Formula which allocates money to school budgets.
The South Antrim MLA, who is also vice-chair of the Stormont Education committee said;
“It is only recently that the true extent of John O’Dowd’s proposals to slash the budgets of literally hundreds of primary schools across Northern Ireland has been revealed.
Using the amount of Free School Meal pupils as a very crude yardstick, the Sinn Fein Minister is proposing to quite literally rob Peter to pay Paul by depriving thousands of children of money to which they are entitled.
670 out of 832 primary schools could have less money to spend on teaching staff, classroom assistants and teaching resources and some schools will lose as much as £40,000.
It is absolutely essential that people participate in this consultation exercise and make their feelings known. I would encourage everyone to contact the Department of Education via its website at http://www.deni.gov.uk/ and click the link on the homepage to view the plans and have your say. The consultation is open until 5pm on Friday 18 October.”