Another Scottish council has released details of major education cuts that are being considered as it seeks solutions for an expected budget shortfall.

North Ayrshire Council says that it expects to face a £16m budget gap once its funding is confirmed, which follows cuts of almost £84m over the past eight years. As a result, they say they will have to find “significant savings” and that frontline services “will almost certainly be affected".

Suggestions include the loss of up to 90 teachers, reductions in additional support needs provision, the end of school crossing patrols, and the closure of the Arran Outdoor Education Centre.

Proposals have been outlined by council officials and will be confirmed at a special meeting of elected representatives on 9 October. A public consultation will open the following day.

Councillors will decide on which proposals to accept in February 2025 when they set the budget for the following year.

Just over £3.5m of cuts have been proposed within the council’s ‘Communities and Housing’ and ‘Place’ directorates; the total possible saving from education cuts is listed as just under £5.2m.

Potential education changes presented by the council include cutting:

  • A total of 50 teaching posts in Aug 2025, and up to 40 more in Aug 2026. This would amount to a loss of around 7% of teachers in North Ayrshire schools. The council argues that even after such a change, the pupil-teacher ratio in the area would remain below national average due to falling school rolls (£3,988,000 saving)

  • A total of 230 hours of Pupil Support Assistant allocation, equivalent to the loss of eight full-time staff (£160,000 saving)

  • All school crossing patrols in the authority (£251,000 saving)

  • Half of the provision for Area Inclusion Workers in primary schools (£226,000 saving)

  • The equivalent of one full-time post from the authority’s music service ( £63,000 saving)

  • The equivalent of one full-time education psychologist (£64,000 saving)

Officers have also proposed that money could be saved by cutting cleaning services in schools, achieving a saving of £345,000 by analysing the “m2 per hour” of staff. Financial contributions towards campus police officers, of which there are currently eight in North Ayrshire secondary schools, could also be halved, with schools expected to use anti-poverty funding to compensate if they wish.

The council has also suggested that it could completely close down the Arran Outdoor Education Centre (AOEC) and "cease provision of an outdoor education service" at this location. This is despite previous opposition to these plans, and current work in the Scottish parliament to ensure that all school pupils in Scotland benefit from residential outdoor education.

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A range of cuts to services other than education have also been proposed, including the closure of six libraries (Skelmorlie, Fairlie, Dalry, Beith, Saltcoats and Dreghorn) and the loss of all ranger services at Eglinton Park. Officials have also suggested the introduction of parking charges and a tourist visitor levy in the area.

The council’s documents also show that it is assuming a 5% increase in Council Tax rates next year. This would mean an extra £1,016 for those in Band A properties, and an increase of £3,736 at Band H. A 100% council tax premium on second homes is also proposed.

Gavin Yates of national parent group Connect said: “The details behind the overall number of proposed reductions are as alarming as the cuts themselves. Reductions in educational psychologists, music teachers and the abandonment of school crossing people will horrify parents as much as the teacher cuts.

He added that he hopes the proposals “will be rejected out of hand by Councillors when they both see the detail and understand the feelings of parents and children."

Responding specifically to threats to the Arran Outdoor Education Centre, Scottish Conservative Liz Smith MSP told The Herald its closure would be a “terrible blow”. The party’s finance spokesperson is currently working on a new bill that would enshrine a right to outdoor, residential education for school pupils in law.

She said: “Outdoor education is one of the most valuable and rewarding learning experiences that any young person can have in their school career.

“This proposed closure would be a terrible blow, particularly when Arran has suffered so much as a result of the SNP’s ferries fiasco. All councils have seen their budgets slashed as a result of the SNP’s financial mismanagement, but this is the wrong target for cuts. 

“My Bill to remove the barriers to outdoor education and ensure all children benefit sets out how the costs can be met via a public trust model. The SNP government should engage with its proposals and work with the council to ensure this valuable resource remains available to Scottish students.”

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Jacqui MacKenzie, EIS Secretary for North Ayrshire, said: "It was very disappointing to see these budget proposals. Any cuts to education staffing would have a negative impact on the children and young people of North Ayrshire. The council are stressing that no decisions have been made at this time and that a period of engagement will now commence. North Ayrshire EIS will obviously be speaking against education cuts for all the reasons outlined in the EIS Stand Up for Quality Education Campaign. The Scottish Government needs to increase funding to ensure that local authorities have the necessary resources to avoid these types of cuts to education."

Mike Corbett, the NASUWT teaching union’s National Officer for Scotland, said: “This is all depressingly predictable and something we highlighted with the Cabinet Secretary for Education & Skills, Jenny Gilruth, at our Education Fringe meeting at the SNP Conference recently: if Glasgow City Council is allowed to get away with cutting teacher numbers, this will simply embolden other Councils to do the same, or worse.

“Regrettably, North Ayrshire Council seems to be taking the latter approach by cutting teacher numbers and making other education cuts, too.

“It is unfathomable to the NASUWT that, at a time when educational attainment is dropping in a post-pandemic world that, rather than contributing to an education recovery by at least maintaining, if not increasing teacher numbers, Councils such as Glasgow, Falkirk and North Ayrshire are doing or proposing the opposite, which will negatively impact pupils even further.

“Not content with this, North Ayrshire suggests going further and cutting the specialism and support services that often help the most vulnerable pupils.

“The Scottish Government needs to get serious with any Councils who threaten teacher numbers and withhold the additional funding they are being offered to employ teachers; meanwhile, the Government should make better use of its revenue-raising powers to garner additional funding for education and the public sector more widely. The Westminster Government could help, too, by applying the existing tax bands and rates in Scotland across the UK to give a much-needed boost to Council budgets.

North Ayrshire Council leader Marie Burns said: “It is important to stress that no decisions have yet been taken and nothing will be decided until all councillors meet next year to set the Budget.

“It’s no secret that all public sector organisations are facing difficult financial decisions – we are no different.

“We have a legal duty to set a balanced budget so it is likely that all councillors in North Ayrshire will face difficult decisions next year.

“Council officers have drawn up a series of areas in which we will engage with residents and seek their views. This will help inform future service provision and the setting of the Council’s budget in February 2025.

“First and foremost in our minds throughout this process will be our commitment to protect and support our communities across North Ayrshire to the very best of our ability.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said:

“The Scottish Government is determined to protect teacher numbers, which is why we are offering £145.5 million to councils this year to do so.

“Talks are continuing with COSLA to reach an agreement which ensures that teacher numbers are protected, and we would strongly encourage any council planning teacher cuts to reconsider. The Education Secretary has been clear that the challenges faced by our schools post-pandemic will not be solved with fewer teachers in Scotland’s schools.”