ERROR RG P4 26.7.1996 The Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse did give $20,000 to the Learning Centre as reported in Wednesday's paper. The National Drug Commission gave the money.

Financial pressures of revamping the public school system has forced Government to cut grants for students with learning disabilities.

Both The Reading Clinic and the Learning Centre of Bermuda have been dropped from the Education Ministry's budget this year.

And The Royal Gazette yesterday learned that there were no promises that the private institutions will be receiving grants from the Ministry in the near future.

In a letter to The Editor, Reading Clinic director Janet Kemp the clinic's supporters, including former Education Minister Clarence Terceira who secured a $20,000 grant from Government last year to help cover the cost of tutoring financially-strapped public school students with dyslexia.

But Dr. Kemp said she was disappointed that the Ministry did not include the grant in this year's budget, "especially in light of the fact that the proposed Education Act stresses the Ministry's responsibility to provide "suitable education'' for students attending Government school.'' And while she said donations from the community will allow students who started tuition last year to continue this year, Reading Clinic trustee and volunteer Ann Dunstan said the clinic will have to dig into its savings.

"We spend more than the $20,000 grant,'' Mrs. Dunstan said. "This year we already have 17 children from Government schools and more are waiting. We also have adults who went through the Government system and did not learn and therefore cannot keep jobs so they are on scholarships here.'' She noted that most of the Reading Clinic's 50 to 60 students were still in school and about half were on scholarships. And she said on average it cost $2,000 a year to teach the students who usually stay in the programme for two to three years.

"We have some tutors who do not charge,'' Mrs. Dunstan said. "But we also have some tutors who teach for a living.'' Senior tutors with degrees charge $35 an hour, while other tutors charge $5 less, she added.

Noting that the Reading Clinic's young clients usually required individual tutoring three times a week, Mrs. Dunstan said it (the fee) quickly added up to some $2,000 a year for each student.

"We give out scholarships and sometimes parents make up the rest,'' she said.

"But we hardly make ends meet. We are always appealing to the public. It is going to mean a big difference, not having the $20,000.'' Mrs. Dunstan said the clinic was trying to set up an endowment fund with companies and individuals who have made major contributions to the clinic.

But she said she did not want to give the names of the clinic's supporters for fear that they would have others knocking down their doors.

However, she said the Reading Clinic wrote the letter because it wanted to publicly thank its supporters.

"We are making slow headway on the endowment,'' Mrs. Dunstan added. "But in order to have interest generated, we would need at least three quarters of a million dollars. Each year we have fund raising drives. Next year we will have to an additional $20,000.'' She noted that the Learning Centre was in the same position.

The centre also had its $20,000 Government grant pulled this year. But the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse picked up the tab, allowing the centre to run a summer programme for 25 youths in need of assistance.

"So other people are picking up the costs of these programmes,'' Mrs. Dunstan pointed out.

She said the clinic recently completed a report which will be mailed to Education Permanent Secretary Marion Robinson shortly.

"We hope with all this information they (education officials) will have another look at it,'' she added, "even if they give us half of it (the grant)''.

However, Mrs. Dunstan stressed that clinic has never turned away those who could not afford to pay and did not intend to do so now.

"That is what Cmdr. Geoffrey Kitson and his wife wanted when they started it (the clinic),'' she added.

"We're a non-profit organisation and we are not making a profit. We're healthy, but it really does put a burden on us with this grant having been withdrawn. We're going to have to work harder.'' When contacted yesterday both Dr. Robinson and Education Minister Jerome Dill stressed the clinic was a "valuable contribution'' to the community.

But they also pointed out that last year's grant was a one-off award.

"We supported it last year because we thought the programme was important,'' Mr. Dill said. "And we would do what we can in the future to assist. But this year we were being squeezed and will continue to be, particularly in the run-up to the restructuring.'' However, he said the Education Ministry was looking at providing services in the public school system so that parents will not have to send their children to private institutions for tutoring.

Dr. Terceira and The Learning Centre could not be reached for comment.