The Ministry of Education was forced to slash $6 million from its budget only "a day or two" before the 2010/11 Budget was printed.

Education Minister El James informed MPs of the move in the House of Assembly yesterday.

He said the cuts were mostly taken from the Ministry's budget for substitute teachers and paraprofessionals.

"You will see that the Budget book indicates that the funding for substitute teachers has decreased by 59 percent, to $1.094 million, year over year. You will also note that page B-100 of the Budget book shows that the number of substitutes has increased from 35 to 57.

"Obviously, we cannot reduce the budget by 59 percent yet increase the number of staff by 64 percent.

"What happened, Mr. Chairman, was that we were asked literally a day or two before the Budget book was to go to print to reduce the budget for the Ministry of Education by four percent or $6 million."

He continued: "Making changes to the line items in the budget for the Ministry headquarters and the Bermuda College to reduce them by four percent was really straightforward.

"However, a line-by-line four percent reduction of the budget for the Department of Education could not be accomplished in the time available, so we had to target two large cost centres.

"During the course of the next financial year, we will find savings in our operating and staffing budgets throughout the Department of Education and transfer those savings to the substitute and paraprofessional cost centres."

Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons questioned where the savings would come from.

"They actually reduced the budget for paraprofessionals but haven't reduced the head count. I am not sure if you call that a short or very strange budget. When you sort of look at all this, it's very hard to justify a very minimal increase in head count and a very large decrease in the salaries.

"Where are these savings coming from? Where is that $5 million savings coming from? So we're here to debate a budget today. We're not here to leave numbers in and say 'we're going to add it in'.

"All I would say is it's difficult enough for us on this side of the House to look at this and try to figure out what's going on. It's probably more difficult for the public to try to see what's going on. Lots of this is extremely difficult to follow."

Dr. Gibbons continued: "Education certainly is an investment on behalf of Bermuda and we need to get it right. Coming to the budget with a slush budget is not getting it right."

Mr. James told the House his Ministry will have to be "creative" when using substitute teachers.

Another way to save was to ensure sick leave isn't abused, he added.

"If we can reduce the amount of sick leave taken it will have a double impact. It will result in less money being spent on sick leave but will also make savings on the allocation of substitute teachers."

The Minister also said while funds weren't allocated in the budget, the Ministry will support community efforts WaterWise, the Bermuda Sloop Foundation and the Bermuda School Sports Federation.

"It is our intention to continue to support these groups in the next financial year. We may not be able to provide the same level of support as we have in the past, but we will make savings in other areas in order to make sure that our students can continue to receive the benefit of the services provided by these organisations."