(UK) Primary school faces budget crisis; 110% increase in SPED students in past 5 yrs

Oct 31, 2018, BBC: (Northern Ireland) Maghaberry primary school principal says parents donating toilet roll https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-46047134 Parents are "donating toilet roll" to a primary school due to budget cuts, a committee of MPs has heard. Maghaberry Primary School principal Graham Gault was speaking at a Northern Ireland Affairs committee hearing into education funding. Politicians were playing "pathetic games" while pupils needed help, the County Antrim school's principal said. Dr Gault was one of four local principals giving evidence to the committee in Westminster on Wednesday. He told MPs that although Maghaberry was a popular and sustainable school, it would have a six-figure budget deficit by the end of the financial year. … Mr Frith told the committee that the mental health of both teachers and pupils was being affected by financial pressures and a lack of resources. "There is an epidemic of mental health problems in our schools, which is nowhere near being addressed effectively," he said. 'Unsustainable system' … DUP MP Jim Shannon said that, as a school governor, he knew there were enormous pressures in meeting special educational needs (SEN) and mental health needs. In response, Ms Gillespie said her school had a 110% increase in the number of pupils with SEN over the past five years, while all of the principals said they were seeing increasing numbers of pupils with SEN…. "We have far too many schools in Northern Ireland, and we're not able to release the money that we need for viable schools because we haven't tackled the elephant in the room."… The Education Authority had previously told the committee that schools in Northern Ireland were set to overspend their budgets by about £33m [$42M US dollars] in 2018/19.