Following receipt of the Department of Education budget revenue allocation, Chief Executive of the Western Education and Library Board, Mr. Joseph Martin admitted to Board members: “This was not a good settlement and secondly, it was not a good settlement for the West.”

    Mr. Martin said, “The Department’s letter of allocation [dated February 20] came very late and left little time for devising a draft plan.”

    He added, “A lot of the Board’s discretion was also taken away by a directive at start of the Department’s letter outlining where the money should be spent.”

    At a meeting of the Western Education and Library Board on Wednesday March 10, Chief Finance Officer of the Western Board, Mr. Owen Harkin, outlined the Board’s projected financial position for the current year and presented the draft budget plan for 2004/2005.

    The education allocation for 2004/2005 amounts to £184 million, an increase of 1.4 per cent on the current year, however, this represents a significant challenge to the Board as the expected rate of pay inflation for the same year will be 2.5 per cent.

    The increase in budget also includes provision for classroom assistants and funding for Maintenance, meaning that, excluding these items, the increase in the base budget allocation is actually 0.79 per cent.

    The Western Board’s overall share of resources available to all education boards has also decreased slightly from 18.98 per cent to 18.92 per cent. This loss is a result of the Pupil Enrolment numbers for Western Area schools dropping by 1.47 per cent compared to an average decrease across Northern Ireland of 1.15 per cent.

    In setting their budget allocation, however, the Department of Education made a clear statement of expectation that the Western Board spends £119.5 million on enhancing schools’ capacity to improve pupil performance. This figure represents an increase of one per cent on the 2003/2004 budget but when taken in the context of reducing pupil numbers, the amount represents an additional 2.6 per cent per pupil directly to schools.

    In addition to this baseline allocation, the Department of Education has allocated £5.2 million to the Western Board to be directly transferred to schools. The net effect of both these allocations is that the direct allocation to schools per pupil has increased by 3.78 per cent.

    The Board however acknowledged that the directive issued by the Department presented a significant challenge in meeting inflationary pressures affecting schools support service budgets, particularly school transport and meals.

    Taking into account the fact that the cost of school meals rose by 12 per cent to recoup staff costs in 2003/2004, the Board has agreed to increase meal prices by 10 pence, approximately six per cent in 2004/2005. This proposal was met with some objection from Board members.

    Concerns were especially voiced by SDLP councillor, Mr. Thomas O’Reilly, who objected to the idea that children should be made pay for increased staff costs.

    Mr. O’Reilly said, “Research shows that school meals are one of the most important nutritional sources for school children from low income families.”

    He added, “I strongly disagree that children should be made pay for increased costs due to job evaluations and feel the government should be prepared to invest in the school meal scheme instead.”

    Mr. O’Reilly asked the Board to make a case to the Education Department for low cost meals saying they are “an essential part of school provision in order for children to achieve their best.”