Education Minister Dame Jennifer Smith has responded to reports of impending jobs cuts due to budget reasons at CedarBridge Academy.The Royal Gazette understands that $1.8 million must be cut from CedarBridge’s budget, with $1.4 million to be axed from the Berkeley Institute.Redundancies at CedarBridge cannot be confirmed by official sources.The Minister said: “It should be pointed out that CedarBridge Academy is governed by the CedarBridge Board. That said, it is the Minister’s intent to discuss these latest developments with the CedarBridge chairman.”The current chair of the school’s board of governors, Larry Mussenden, was not available for comment.Dame Jennifer said: “The budgets for each school were published in February in the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure. As you will be aware, the Ministry has been working towards giving autonomy to schools. In this regard, aided schools, including CedarBridge, already have a measure of autonomy as they make decisions concerning their schools in collaboration with their Boards of Governors.”The Minister also said that out of all the senior schools, there was “one shining example where an aided school has not only made the required cuts, but also indicated that they may, in fact, find additional savings”. She confirmed that Ministry officials have met with one Board to discuss their proposed plan of action.Dame Jennifer added: “We remain ready and willing to meet with all Boards in this regard, even as we struggle to meet agreed financial targets within the Department.”Shadow Education Minister for One Bermuda Alliance Grant Gibbons said the revelations of cuts at the two main senior schools left many unanswered questions.Referring to the Budget given for the new financial year in February, Dr Gibbons said the cuts appeared lower than those stated a few months ago.“Berkeley Institute was to be allocated $3 million less this year, and for CedarBridge that figure was $3.2 million,” Dr Gibbons said. “One question that immediately comes to mind is, are these figures of $1.4 million and $1.8 million the actuals, or are they going to follow through on what the Budget advocated, which is an additional $3 million? Will these schools still have to make more cuts?”Budget tables for Government schools also show an increase in full time employees at Berkeley, from 95 to 100, and a loss of two staff at CedarBridge from 112 to 110.Dr Gibbons said: “It’s bizarre that though the Budget advocated $6.3 million, the net manpower numbers went up three. There are a lot of questions still outstanding.“While I’m sure that there is waste in the system, the cuts still have to be sensitive to ensure that there is no impact on services. When I looked at these figures in February, I thought there was not quite that sufficient savings made at the department and ministerial level. I think most parents would like to see that before any cuts to the actual instructing in schools.”