Greens confirm no teacher cuts in Glasgow Council Budget
Green councillors have confirmed they will use the upcoming Budget process to stop planned cuts to teacher numbers in Glasgow, as the city council prepares to set its budget for the financial year ahead.
Teachers in Glasgow are set to go on strike over council plans to reduce teacher numbers in the city by 450 over a three year period. The Scottish Green group on Glasgow City Council have confirmed that their proposed Budget will mean no more teacher cuts and that teacher numbers will begin to return to 2023 levels next year.
Green education spokesperson Cllr Blair Anderson said:
The Glasgow Greens are pleased to be using this Budget process to put much-needed investment back into frontline services.
Our Budget will ensure no more teacher cuts and that Glasgow teacher numbers will start to return to 2023 levels.
“For the first time in many years, council budgets have benefitted from increased investment this year, thanks largely to the end of the Tory government at Westminster. All councillors, Greens included, have been forced by austerity to face awful budget choices in recent years, including cuts to teacher numbers. Thankfully, now that we have some breathing space in our budgets, Greens are prioritising our schools and ending the threat of more teacher cuts. We have written to the Glasgow branch of the EIS union informing them that our Budget proposals will stop and reverse the teacher cuts in Glasgow and we expect all parties will follow suit.
“Over the past year, Greens have been making the case to the Scottish Government for more investment in our city and especially more funding for our teachers. Thankfully, the Scottish Government have acted, allocating millions more for teacher numbers in Glasgow. Parents, teachers and trade unions have been rightly raising the alarm on this issue – if we want better outcomes for our children, we need more investment in our schools, not less.
“It’s not sustainable that local councils are having decisions made for them by national government, but that has been the reality with budgets in recent years. It shouldn’t have taken a change of Westminster Government for Glasgow’s councillors to be able to protect teacher numbers. While we will be using this year’s Budget to invest in our city’s schools, Greens will absolutely be continuing to fight for fair council funding meaning we never find ourselves in this position again.