While North Ayrshire Council continues to pay over £1 million per month from its education budget to Labour's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) debt, the SNP Government uses education funding more effectively:
Since 2007, under this SNP Government, 1000 schools have been rebuilt or refurbished.
School Estates figures for 2021 show that the proportion of pupils educated in these good or satisfactory condition schools in Scotland has hit a record of 91.6%, up from 60.8% in 2007.
Through its highly successful Learning Estate Investment Programme, the SNP Government is investing in the new, state of the art Ardrossan Community Learning and Innovation Hub to replace Ardrossan Academy and Winton Primary School – it wouldn’t be possible without this funding.
Last year, North Ayrshire council received £4,297,771 to be spent at the discretion of teachers and school leaders to close the attainment gap, benefitting 47 primary schools and 9 secondary schools.
This year, North Ayrshire council will receive a further £4,672,951 through Scottish Attainment Challenge funding to support education recovery, reduce variation and accelerate progress in tackling the poverty related attainment gap.
This SNP Government has delivered at least 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) from August 2021 for all eligible three and four-year-olds. Our increase, from 600 will save families £4,900 per child each year.
We know the difference high-quality ELC makes to children’s outcomes, which is why we also offer funded ELC to two-year-olds who are most likely to benefit from early access.
In 2022/23, North Ayrshire council will receive £13.093 million in revenue funding to support this expansion.
Free school meals 4,125 pupils - 3,123 in primary one to three - now benefit from a free school meal in North Ayrshire, saving families around £380 per child each year.
A further expansion to the scheme saw an additional 90,000 children in primary four and five across Scotland become eligible for free school meals in January 2022.
The SNP Government’s investment narrowing the attainment gap are working and, last year, 95.2% of school leavers in North Ayrshire went onto positive destinations in employment, training or further study.
Since the SNP Government came into office in 2007 there have been 9,877 Modern Apprenticeship starts in North Ayrshire.
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