Ben Smith Questions School Funding Strategy
Opposition Leader Ben Smith accused the Government of hypocrisy and prolonged mismanagement, arguing that after nearly nine years in power it has failed to properly maintain public schools and is now seeking private sector support to address deteriorating infrastructure while lacking clear education outcomes.
Opposition Leader Ben Smith said, “Three days after the Government celebrated record revenues and projected that Bermuda will cross the $2 billion revenue mark, it now admits that our schools are in such disrepair that it needs the private sector to rescue its schools. This is beyond incompetence and shows their hypocrisy.
“Providing a quality education is the most fundamental responsibility of any government. Yet after nearly nine consecutive years in power, this Government is confessing publicly that it cannot maintain the very buildings our children walk into every morning.
“The Minister talks about “being realistic”. Is she finally admitting the Government has failed when it comes to education?
“The Government has spent years promising transformation, signature schools, innovation, restructuring, and “world-class reform.”
“It closed schools, hired consultants and spent millions on ‘reform’. How have our students, parents and teachers benefitted? They’ve received nothing but constant unanswered questions.
“Now the Minister is claiming every school needs $10 to $20 million just to be functional.
“Why is the number so high? It sounds like close to a decade of neglect.
“Instead of owning that failure, the Government wants businesses to adopt a school.
“International business is already paying more through CIT. Now the Government wants it to bankroll public school infrastructure too. This is the consequence of multiple years of mismanagement.
“It deferred maintenance, paid consultants without transparent outcomes and closed schools with no coherent plan.
“Now the new Minister wants applause for identifying that the schools have not been maintained by her government.
“Where are the literacy numbers?
“Where are the numeracy scores?
“Where is the audit of education outcomes?
“Where are the measurable results after nearly a decade of talk?
“You cannot claim economic strength while children sit in deteriorating schools.
“You cannot brag about revenue while asking the private sector to bail out basic government responsibilities.
“You cannot call this reform when it is nothing more than a distraction from nine years of failure.
“This Government has failed spectacularly at executing the most basic duty it has.
“Educating Bermuda’s children and maintaining the buildings they learn in.”
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