The Ministry of Education’s $126.9 million budget was approved in the Senate yesterday with no objections.

The three budget sections approved under the ministry covered the Ministry of Education headquarters [$2,414,000], the Department of Education [$109,096,000] and Bermuda College [$15,481,000].

With some 2½ hours allocated to the reading of the budget brief by senator Vic Ball, there was little time for questions.

Progressive Labour Party senator Renee Ming did express “concerns” over the reduction in the budget allocated for IT support which is down from $2,553,000 in the last fiscal year to $2,514,000 in the year ahead.

Highlighting concerns published in the School Reorganisation [Score] Report including maintenance issues and inconsistent internet access in some of the island’s primary schools, Ms Ming questioned how the efficiencies could have been made. While Mr Ball had no time during questions to answer, he did outline how some costs were cut during his brief. He highlighted that our schools “must have access to current technology in the classroom to obtain the skill set that will better prepare them to compete globally.”

On the savings, he spoke of reductions in the number of rented network cabinets used, networking gear and firewalls and collaboration with the Government’s ITO Department to obtain better rates, reduction in the number of servers and using “newer more energy-efficient equipment” leading to reduced power consumption.

In response to Ms Ming’s question about the possibility of a dedicated Stem [science, technology, engineering and math] centre for Bermuda’s public school system, Mr Ball said the ministry was “working in partnership with the Bermuda College” with regards to the matter.

Answering the question by independent senator James Jardine in reference to a deficiency in math grades at the senior secondary level, Mr Ball said the ministry would be hiring an education officer who will be responsible for directly overseeing the delivery of the math Cambridge curriculum.

Highlighting her “passion” for special needs advocacy, PLP senator Tinee Furbert questioned Mr Ball over the insufficient budget allocation for Gilbert Institute’s deaf and hard-of-hearing programmes last year as reported in the Score Report. Teachers were said to have paid for resources for their students out of their own pockets.

According to the Budget book under the heading Student Services, budget for “Hearing” was down 7 per cent to $295,000.

Student services on the whole increased by 1 per cent to $16,646,000 including the hiring of an extra paraprofessional to service increased demand.

Ms Furbert also raised the issue of the 15-year-old bus used to transport students at Bermuda’s only dedicated special-needs school — the Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy.

She said that while the bus had undergone “significant repairs over the past year” there were still complaints of ongoing problems including faulty air conditioning. Mr Furbert questioned whether there was a regular maintenance schedule or whether a complete replacement of the bus was being considered.