 All the education boards are struggling to meet budgets |
The five education and library boards in Northern Ireland will be heavily overspent next year unless services to pupils are cut, they have said. They said most of the extra �19m they had received from the government would be eaten up by unavoidable staff costs.
Schools have received an extra �79m, but added costs mean they will only get an increase of between 1-2.5%.
The heads of the five boards issued a statement saying the total shortfall would be between �25m and �30m.
They said: "Board officers have impressed upon the department the serious consequences for education if service reductions of the magnitude of �25-30m are to be enacted.
"The suggestion that these savings could be made by efficiency savings is seriously flawed.
"The inevitable result will be real cuts on frontline services that will directly impact on the education and welfare of children."
The boards are seeking urgent meetings with the Department of Education to obtain clarification on the allocations and stress the "negative impact" of their budget announcement.
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