THE Education Minister has said years of underfunding in special educational needs are now “coming home to roost” – after a JEP investigation revealed that the majority of the Island’s schools ended 2024 in the red.
During question time in the States Assembly this week, Deputy Rob Ward was again grilled over education budgets.
He pushed back against suggestions that rising staff costs and teacher pay are to blame for the worsening deficits, instead pointing to a sharp rise in the number of special needs students requiring support, which he said had not been matched by enough funding in previous years.
“School budgets are under pressure. Of course they are,” he told Members. “In 2022/23, a report showed £13.1 million was needed just for special educational needs in schools. But only £6 million was agreed by the council of ministers. And so the inbuilt deficits and what was needed is now, lo and behold, come to roost.
“And that’s not a criticism of anything before, it’s an observation. And if we take those intelligent observations and look forward, we can have a much more considered, thoughtful and honest discussion about what is actually needed for the education system that we all want.”
Pressed by Deputy Jonathan Renouf about a 30% rise in staff numbers and costs above inflation over the past five years, Deputy Ward pointed to a sharp increase in pupils with special needs – from just over 200 in 2017 to more than 500 today.
Deputy Ward argued that such increases in need must be matched by increased funding, and described such spending as “an investment in the future of our Island.”
His comments come after the JEP revealed last week that 21 of the Island’s primary and secondary schools were running deficits by the end of 2024.
The deficits for the first five months of 2025 were worse “by a long way,” said one teacher speaking on condition of anonymity.
While some States Members – and teachers who spoke to the JEP – suggested that above-inflation pay awards were a factor in the overspends, Deputy Ward argued the most recent teacher pay increase had been fully funded outside school budgets.
“I can reassure the Deputy that the pay increase was funded separately from school budgets,” he told the Assembly. “What we hear in social media isn’t always true.”
