Attempt to delay education transformation thrown out by States
AN EFFORT to delay Education, Sport and Culture's proposals for one school across two colleges was thwarted earlier today amidst fears that it could lead to another debate about the merits of a three or four school system and perhaps even the issue of selection itself.
Other concerns raised by members included how long it might take to meet the demands of the sursis, and the anticipated cost of £1.5m.
If the sursis - led by Andrea Dudley-Owen - passed, ESC would return with a business model that included comparisons of the proposed model of one school on two sites with 'familiar models' such as the old three-school system.
It would cost £1.5m., and a report would need to come back in November this year.
ESC member Peter Roffey sent a warning that if the sursis succeeded and a report came back with fresh comparisons with the old system, it would run the real risk of the States once again discussing the benefits of selection, an issue which it had already discussed.
It would be 'bloney poor government' and another 'expensive trip around the mulberry bush', he said.
Deputy Meerveld said he saw the ESC propositions as 'a desperate political attempt to lock in an ideological model designed by the deputies involved ahead of the next election.'
ESC president Matt Fallaize sounded a warning that if the sursis was approved, the timeline could not be adhered to: 'Voting for the sursis will make it impossible for the States, before the end of their term, to establish any kind of resolution or certainty of the future of eduction despite having debated it for years,' he said.
Sursis seconder Deputy Rob Prow said the rushed approach had left not time for a proper consultation process and little time to digest the information available: 'Act in haste – repent at leisure,' he said, quoting his late mother who was a teacher.
The demands of the sursis were simply not deliverable in the timeframe, said ESC member Deputy Mark Dorey.
After Deputy Dudley-Owen summed up, in which she said that the old education model was a known quantity against which the new plans could be measured and would not lead to another debate on selection, the matter was put to the vote and lost by 26 votes to 13.
Voting breakdown:
FOR: Deputies Paint, Brouard, Dudley-Owen, De Lisle, Prow, Kuttelwascher, Gollop, Leadbeater, Trott, Le Pelley, Meerveld, Inder, Lowe. Total: 13.
AGAINST: Deputies Graham, Green, Dorey, Le Tocq, Yerby, Langlois, Soulsby, de Sausmarez, Roffey, Oliver, Ferbrache, Tindall, Brehaut, Tooley, Parkinson, Lester Queripel, Le Clerc, Merrett, St Pier, Stephens, Fallaize, Laurie Queripel, Smithies, Hansmann Rouxel. Alderney Representatives Roberts, Snowdon. Total: 26
