This article is from page 17 of the 2008-12-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
PROTESTERS in Ennis served a re- minder to Clare TDs on Friday that cutbacks in education spending have not been forgotten about.
Just over three months after Min- ister for Finance Brian Lenihan announced a raft of controversial budget measures, parents at Ennis CBS took to the streets to voice their anger at the cuts.
Members of the Parents’ Associa- tion of Ennis CBS visited the offices of Clare’s government representatives on Friday last where they handed in letters outlining the implications of the proposed budget cutbacks on pu- pils of the CBS.
They also urged TDs to support parent’s calls to reverse the decision’s taken in October’s budget.
According to a statement released by Ennis CBS, the school will lose three teachers if the cutbacks pro- ceed as planned.
“The loss of a teacher due to the increased pupil teacher ration of 28:1 will impact on class sizes and it may be necessary to split classes. This will happen in a situation where a number of pupils in the CBS are already in classes exceeding 30+ pupils. We do not hold the Principal or Board of Management culpable for this situation’, declares the state- ment.
School representatives say Ennis CBS will lose two English language support teachers and will be heavily impacted by funding cuts.
According to the school this in- cludes a loss of €1270 for learning Support and resource grants for pu- pils with special needs; a reduction in Traveller education funding with a resulting loss of €3000 to the school; the abolition of the free book scheme which equals a loss of €1724.50 and the abolition of funding for the local library which supports the school class libraries, resulting in a loss of funding to CBS of €2540.00.
Parents and teachers are also con- cerned by the cut in funding for pri- mary school building by 5%, point-
ing to rising costs in electricity, phone, fuel etc.
The statement concludes, ““Parents/ guardians are concerned that, despite a capital allocation in the Budget, we are no nearer to obtaining a new premises despite acknowledgment at political and educational level of the need for a new school”.