Government goes ahead with education cuts.

Amalgamated Bermuda Union of Teachers organiser Mr. Milton Scott sounded this warning as the union spelled out its position on the cuts.

The proposed cuts, to total about $2.2 million, include 25 teachers, summer school, 50 percent of the textbook budget, teachers' pay for overseas workshops and conferences, and grants for general equipment, supplies, and school trips.

Mr. Scott said even without the cuts, teachers were buying some basic supplies.

A survey conducted by the ABUT four years ago, indicated that the average teacher spends over $300 a year of their own money on necessary materials, including paper.

ABUT secretary Mrs. Veronica Mitchell said PTAs should not have to pay for such materials because parents have already paid for them in taxes.

"PTAs are there to provide schools with additional frills or niceties and things that make schools better for kids,'' Mr. Scott added.

"They are not there to depend on for basic necessities.

"PTAs are already spending their time raising money to purchase basic necessities for schools. And we will see PTAs providing more basic necessities (if the proposed cuts are implemented).'' National PTA president Mrs. Marian Askia echoed similar sentiments.

"PTAs are viewed as fund raisers, as a monetary resource where the Department of Education lacks,'' Mrs. Askia said. "When the National PTA started out we were trying to make PTAs realise they are more than that.'' Noting that PTAs have helped to send students, who may never have had the opportunity, abroad for various competitions and educational trips, she said: "If we have to take away from that to buy toilet paper, pencils, and paper, we're not going to have that money for the kids (to travel).

"We're trying to give a little extra to the kids. Some of the kids, other than on such trips, will not get this exposure.'' Mrs. Askia stressed that the National PTA had not backed down on its opposition to the proposed cuts.

In fact, she said, the group was encouraging all parents to attend its next meeting tonight at the Peace Lutheran Church on South Shore Road, Paget.

Mrs. Askia said the meeting, which will begin at 7.30 p.m., will give parents the opportunity to hear teachers' or the ABUT's side "as to how these cuts will not be conducive to children's education''.

The Royal Gazette has learned that in anticipation of the cuts, some PTAs have already stepped up efforts to raise cash.

One primary school sent out letters about two weeks ago to parents asking that they help their youngsters each raise $25 for the school.

And Berkeley Institute, next month, will host a $100-a-plate black tie banquet at The Princess hotel to raise funds for the Government-aided high school.

"The need to generate funds has risen because of the restrictions that the Minister of Education has placed on the availability of funds,'' Berkeley Board of Governors treasurer Mr. Calvin White said in an invitational letter.

"The Board must secure financing to prepare the school for its role as one of the two senior secondary schools in Bermuda.'' Mr. Thomas S. Watson Jr., who served as a trade advisor for the Bush administration, will be the guest speaker at the banquet, on March 13, which will be the last official event of his four-day visit.

Another Government-aided school, Whitney Institute, will hold a fair for the first time in years.

PTA president Mrs. Laverne Ingham said after several meetings and the announcement of the proposed cuts, the PTA decided to have a fair on May 15.

"We are finding it hard, but we're going to hang in there,'' Mrs. Ingham said about the planned cuts.

"We're hoping there will be no cuts. We want to keep it as normal as possible for the kids.'' Head of Somerset Primary's PTA, Mrs. Rhonda Smith, said "we already had something in the pipelines before the proposed cuts were announced. But unless Government backs down on some of the cuts, parents will be required to pick up the slack.''