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Money for education lost to Treasury appears to be on way back

The UK government will provide an additional £50m per year for two years to address immediate pressures in education
The UK government will provide an additional £50m per year for two years to address immediate pressures in education The UK government will provide an additional £50m per year for two years to address immediate pressures in education

MONEY that appeared to be lost to the north's education system looks like it is on its way back again.

Schools need more cash, and judging by the tone of the now numerous letters from principals, they need a lot of it, and urgently.

The UK government says it will provide an additional £50 million per year for two years to enable the Executive to address immediate pressures in health and education.

The exact amount being made available to each is not yet clear, nor will it be anywhere near enough to plug the funding shortfall being felt across education.

While £50m sounds like a massive wedge, it is not going to help that much in reality, given the DUP's own assessment.

In January this year, then DUP education minister Peter Weir told an assembly committee that the system needed £240m "to stand still".

Schools are already careering towards serious financial difficulties. The total debt among all schools expected to be in deficit at March 2018 is due to rise to £55m and increase again to almost £75 by the end of the 2018/19 financial year.

Unions have warned that making cuts to balance the books will mean schools will find it impossible to maintain their high quality of education. Principals have been writing to parents, education bodies and politicians warning they will not make any further cuts. Department of Education officials have advised them they cannot go into the red, which has angered principals even more.

The figure of £50m is a nice round one that sounds familiar - probably because it is.

Secretary of State James Brokenshire indicated that the Stormont budget he would impose would cut 2.5 per cent from the education pot - a loss of around £50m.

The £50m is also almost exactly the sum total of the kitty for shared education that was returned to the Treasury.

The Stormont House and Fresh Start Agreements included plans to invest up to £50m a year, for 10 years, on unsegregated schooling. This was celebrated by ministers as "another step forward on the road to building a better Northern Ireland".

However, just £3m was spent in the first year by former education minister Peter Weir, with £47m being retained in London.

So, while it appears the money is on its way back in some guise, schools will still be required to make difficult decisions as a matter of urgency.