“Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and councils have this crazy choice of whether to cut here, or cut there. What we need is more money.”
If last night’s general election hustings hosted by the EIS teaching union had been an in-person as opposed to an online event, Nick Quail, who was representing the Scottish Green Party, surely would have received enthusiastic applause for this comment.
How he was proposing to get that money was “by taxing the wealthy and those who can afford it”.
But that Quail, who is standing for the Greens in Glasgow West in the forthcoming general election, understands the messages that will resonate with teachers, is perhaps unsurprising. He himself is a recently retired headteacher. He had worked in education for 30 years, he said, and had been a secondary headteacher for seven. This was his first hustings.
Also on the panel were some more familiar faces, including education secretary Jenny Gilruth; the Scottish Conservatives’ education spokesperson, Liam Kerr; Labour’s education spokesperson, Pam Duncan-Glancy; and the Liberal Democrats’ education spokesperson, Willie Rennie.
In a general election campaign, Scottish education does not tend to get much airtime given it is devolved. But as Quail was at pains to hammer home last night - when his unpredictable Wi-Fi connection would allow - resourcing is the big issue for schools and the Scottish budget flows from Westminster.
Ever-shrinking budgets are what prevents schools from employing the staff they need to support pupils with additional needs; to manage behaviour; to take workload pressure off staff; and to deliver the kinds of experiences they want for pupils.
Pam Duncan-Glancy was, therefore, also keen to spell out how Labour would generate more money to invest in schools. She criticised the Scottish government’s “gross under-resourcing” of education. She promised “economic growth to put money in pockets and our public services”. She also said a Labour government would crack down on tax avoidance and “non-dom [tax] loopholes”.
Labour has also said it will end the VAT exemption for private schools and invest this money into the state education system.
Charging VAT on private school fees would generate £100-120 million in Scotland alone, said Duncan-Glancy. That would pay for an additional 1,800 teachers in state schools.
But there was no guarantee money raised through VAT on private school fees would be spent on education, said Liam Kerr.
Kerr also argued VAT on private school fees would have “very serious negative consequences” for state schools, as well as private schools. He did not get around to spelling out what those consequences would be but, presumably, he was referring to the fears that fee hikes - and possibly school closures - will lead to an influx of private school pupils into the state sector.
When it came to the Scottish government’s budget, it was not so much the size of the settlement that was the issue - but how well it was managed, Kerr said.
He raised the spectre of the ferries fiasco which has cost the public purse hundreds of millions. He also talked about the legal action being taken against the Scottish government by waste giant Biffa over the delayed deposit return scheme (DRS), as well as the accusation that hundreds of millions of pounds allocated to Scotland by the European Commission are going unclaimed.
Jenny Gilruth, meanwhile, argued that “Labour and the Tories are now pretty much indistinguishable”. She said Labour was planning “to carry on with the same austerity agenda” and it would have “a major impact” on public services, including schools.
She said: “Scotland needs an alternative to austerity, not more of the same with Labour - and the SNP are the only party offering a real change by taking decisions in Scotland for Scotland with independence.”
On teacher numbers, Gilruth appeared to slip up by admitting that the Scottish government had allowed money that was meant to be used to employ teachers to “flow out the door” and into council coffers without ensuring that was what it was spent on.
She effectively said she would not be making that mistake again.
“Councils have to sign up and agree at the start to maintain teacher numbers,” she said.
As yet, Gilruth said no council had received a share of the £145.5 million government funding for teachers - and no council would - until they signed up to that condition.
Tes Scotland understands that council umbrella body Cosla has been given until 13 July to agree a position.
The Lib Dems’ Willie Rennie said he was for raising some taxes - but he would not “go wild” like the Greens. The Lib Dems wanted to “grow the economy” and “bring a bit of order back into government” after “the Liz Truss budget, the Boris Johnson Brexit and even the independence agenda”, he said.
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