Schools in county rack up £200,000 supply bill
Wednesday 18th August 2010, 11:29AM BST.
Shropshire schools spent more than £200,000 on supply teachers in 12 months, it has been revealed. The biggest spender was a Shifnal school.
Idsall School spent £73,560 and used four different agencies from April 2009 to April this year.
The figures were released following a Freedom of Information request to Shropshire Council which was published on the website whatdotheyknow.com.
It shows other high figures for Sir John Talbot’s School, in Whitchurch, which spent £16,928, and the Marches School, in Oswestry, which was billed for £15,932. And Bridgnorth Endowed School used eight different agencies, spending a total of £12,181.
But some schools used hardly any cover, with Stokesay Primary School, in Craven Arms, Stoke-on-Tern Primary School, in Market Drayton, Welshampton Primary School, in north Shropshire and Longden and St Mary’s Primary Schools, in Shrewsbury, only paying out £19 each.
The total figure for all schools covered by Shropshire Council was about £202,370.
Fiona McEvoy, from the Taxpayers’ Alliance, today said: “Continually hiring supply teachers is not only disruptive for pupils, it’s also an unnecessary cost for taxpayers. This practice is making a dent in schools’ budgets and diverting money away from much-needed educational resources.
“It’s vital that, where possible, schools employ permanent members of staff.”
Michele Leith, human resources manager for children and young people’s services at Shropshire Council, said: “Schools manage supply teacher use.”
This month it was revealed schools in Telford spent £900,000 on supply teachers in the same period.
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With supply teaching salaries of £27,500 per teacher per year, that only works out at 7.27 teachers and for a county this size, for a whole year I think that is a bargain. Can’t see what the fuss is about.
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Without any context, this is all just meaningless data that doesn’t actually tell anybody anything.
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Bargain ?, figures are pointless without knowing all the info .Why were supply teachers required?? if it was for sickness cover how often was sickness an issue was it repeated by the same staff and at what schools.
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I’d like to know how some schools managed to spend on £19 for a supply teacher when I know that wouldn’t even cover 1 hours work?
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