Edinburgh under-populated schools on brink of closure
- Jan. 21, 2010
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Keywords:
- closures
- edinburgh
- school
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Head teachers are claiming that almost 90 per cent of their budget has been allotted to compensate for other costs, including teacher pay, and are claiming that closing under-occupied schools would be preferable to the individual school suffering
In 2010/2011, schools in Edinburgh are expected to face a further 2.5 per cent cut to their budgets.
The average occupancy rate in primary schools was shown by the council to be 74 per cent, with secondary schools being 86 per cent. With over 8,000 spare primary places, heads are furious that all schools are suffering when closing down the under-populated schools seems more logical.
Rory MacKenzie from Balerno High School states that both primary and secondary head teachers are opposed to further budget cuts.
Understanding that it is a difficult and emotive issue, MacKenzie also realised that this would have serious impact on some communities:
“...we understand the financial restrictions they are under and that there needs to be rationalisation of the school estate and therefore some schools will have to close.”
