Dear Parent/Carer,

You are receiving this email because you or your family may be directly affected by proposals included in Dumfries and Galloway Council’s 2026/27 budget consultation relating to the delivery of education services.

Like many councils, we are facing significant financial pressures. Rising costs and increasing demand for services mean we must identify around £35 million in savings and additional income over the next three years—on top of the £133 million already saved in the past 16 years. This means we are having to make some extremely difficult decisions to ensure we can continue to deliver essential services within our budget.

Importantly, this £35 million shortfall does not include any indicative Council Tax increases tentatively planned for 2026/27 and 2027/28. Even with those increases, a significant funding gap remains. 

We are committed to listening to our parents/carers and pupils. Your feedback will help us set priorities, identify savings and explore new ways to generate income.

What’s being proposed?

Some of the options being considered include:

• Remove instrumental Music Instruction Service – End the free in-school music instrument lessons for P5–S6 pupils. This may mean school bands and choirs could no longer continue, and secondary schools might have fewer options for instruments in music courses.
• Remove funding for school-based police officers – Stop our council’s contribution that pays for Police Scotland officers in secondary schools.
• Introduce fixed enrolment dates and capacities for nurseries – Set capacity for each council nursery at the beginning of the school year (August). If a nursery reaches its capacity, any requests received mid-year would be offered a place at their family’s second or third choice nursery instead. This ensures staffing and resources are used efficiently across all nurseries
• Consult on the closure of small nurseries – Undertake statutory consultation on the future of very small council-run nurseries with low enrolment (around 10 children or fewer). This would likely affect about four council nurseries by 2026/27. Children could be offered places at nearby nurseries (including partner-providers).
• Use schools more effectively by bringing pupils into underused modern school buildings – Make better use of our modern school buildings and provide pupils with access to the highest quality learning environments through consultation on the re-alignment of catchment areas, resulting in the closure of surplus schools.
• Consult on school closures – 20 or less pupils – Undertake statutory consultation on the future of up to 5 schools with 20 or less pupils (based on a three-year projection) in line with the Schools Consultation Scotland Act 2010.
• Consult on school closures – 25 or less pupils – Undertake statutory consultation on the future of up to 13 schools with 25 or less pupils (based on a three-year projection) in line with the Schools Consultation Scotland Act 2010.
• Consult on school closures – 50 or less pupils – Undertake statutory consultation on the future of up to 36 schools with 50 or less pupils (based on a three-year projection) in line with the Schools Consultation Scotland Act 2010.
• Remove permanent supply teacher pool – Introduced during the pandemic to cover staff absences, a pool of 16 teachers provides supply cover. This proposal removes that pool. Schools would use their existing staff to cover classes and manage absences, with headteachers reallocating staff resources as needed.
• Reduce the absence budget for teaching staff cover – Reduce the budget for covering staff absences by 10%. Absences would be managed more tightly through a renewed Maximising Attendance Policy– to reduce how often cover is needed.
• Reduce staffing of Early Learning and Childcare support – Restructure the Early Learning and Childcare support teams – currently 20 staff – into roughly 10 staff split into East and West teams.
• Remove dedicated Education Health and Safety team – Remove the 3 education-specific health and safety posts. School health and safety support would be provided through the council’s central health and safety resource.
• Share management for very small nurseries – Have one Nursery Manager oversee multiple small nursery settings (those with under 12 children enrolled) instead of each nursery having its own manager. This would remove four Nursery Manager posts
• Restructure of management in large primary Schools – Review depute head teaching roles in primary schools with over 221 pupils to reduce management costs and ensure duties are assigned to the most appropriate staff.
• Share headteachers between very small and larger primary schools – Have our very small primary schools (those with under 20 pupils) share a headteacher with a nearby larger primary school, instead of each having their own head, supported by additional management time to ensure effective leadership
• Share headteachers between small and larger primary schools – Similar to the option above, expand the shared headteacher model to also include two-teacher schools (those with under 50 pupils) being partnered with larger primaries.
• Share headteachers between smaller and larger secondary schools – Have our smaller secondary schools (those with fewer than 300 pupils) share headteachers with larger secondary schools. This would remove four Headteacher posts.
• Reduce secondary teaching staff to reflect falling pupil numbers – Ensure that the number of teachers in our secondary schools reflects the declining number of pupils. With fewer pupils, the total teaching staff could be reduced (around 12 teaching posts) whilst still covering classes by using teachers hours more efficiently.
• Remove Playground Supervisor roles at primary schools – Remove the Playground Supervisor positions (47 part-time roles) in primary schools. As a result, schools would handle playtime supervision using other staff or alternative arrangements.
• Close three Inclusion Bases and shift to outreach support – Close three specialist ‘Inclusion Base’ units (two in primary, one in secondary) that serve pupils with social, emotional and behavioural challenges. Instead, pupils would be supported through an outreach model, where teachers would travel to support them in their school.
• Reconfiguration of support for the Autism Attendance Care Experienced Team – This proposal would combine the roles of Attendance Support, Autism Outreach and Care Experienced staff into one team. A single combined team would be managed by local school clusters and support pupils based on schools’ priorities, reducing management and overhead costs.
• Reduce Additional Support for Learning (ASL) teachers in primary schools – Reduce the number of ASL teachers in primary schools by 25%. The remaining ASL teachers would be reorganised to work across clusters of schools under primary headteachers.
• Remove Principal Teacher roles for play-based learning – After building capacity for play-based learning in classrooms, the 3 play -based learning Principal Teacher posts would end. Regular teaching staff would include play-based learning practices as part of normal teaching duties.
• Remove central English as an Additional Language (EAL) and Gypsy/Traveller support team – Remove the centrally run support team for EAL and gypsy/traveller pupils. Schools, through Supporting Learners staff, would be responsible for supporting EAL and gypsy/traveller children, as they do for other pupils with additional needs.
• Remove Principal Teacher post in Sensory Services – Restructure the management of our sensory support services (for deaf and visually impaired pupils) by removing one Principal Teacher. The two specialist teams would be merged with duties covered by remaining staff, keeping the service compliant with all requirements
• Keep S1 to S3 pupils on campus at lunchtime to increase school meal uptake – Require all S1-S3 secondary pupils to remain in school during lunch break (rather than leaving school to buy food). This would mean more pupils eating in the school canteen, which supports healthy eating and should increase the number of school meals sold.

For the full list of officer-led budget savings options and to share your views, please visit our consultation page: Budget Consultation 2026/27 – Dumfries and Galloway Council https://www.dumfriesandgalloway.gov.uk/budgetconsultation

The consultation is open until 23 November.

Full list of budget savings