Education's budget in the House of Assembly.

Government spending on Warwick Academy -- which is to be completely private in 1995 -- is due to increase this year while spending for five public schools is cut, Shadow Education Minister Ms Jennifer Smith said on Monday.

She said people understand economic restraints, but a Government survey last year revealed more than 70 percent of Bermudians were willing to pay $100 more a year in taxes to make sure that education reform plans go ahead.

She said it appeared that more and more students were going abroad for schooling.

The Tumim report had warned if whites and middle-class blacks fled from the new school system, it would detract from its benefits. This was already occurring.

"But there are some parents who don't have the choice,'' she said. "They are the ones who want to see that their children have the best (public) education.'' Ms Smith said it was strange the Ministry increased funding for Teacher Training Awards from $53,000 last year to $120,000, when the Minister was looking at cutting teacher positions.

"Are we going to have teaching jobs for these people who come back qualified?'' she asked.

Ms Smith suggested the Ministry could have saved money by doing the following consolidating the Ministry's 79 staff who operate at ten rented sites and by extending foreign teachers one-year contracts to three years, rather than spending over $260,000 to recruit from overseas every year.

Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul accused Ms Smith of delivering a speech of "emotion rather than substance''.

He counted 13 inaccurate statements and three misleading ones in Ms Smith's 90-minute speech.

Government had followed through with its promises, including abolishing the controversial 11-Plus exam.

Dr. Saul said Ms Smith's suggestions that money allocated for teacher training could be used for Further Education Awards and 35 Bermudian teachers who returned home could be used instead of recruiting teachers, showed her "horrendous'' lack of understanding of education administration.

"What if the 35 teachers were English or Art teachers and 36 Maths teachers wanted to return to England,'' he asked.

Mr. Stuart Hayward (Ind) said: "There is a perception that the Ministry tends to be very defensive, very rigid and are seen by teachers as interfering rather than assisting,'' he said.

"The Ministry must look in the mirror,'' Mr. Hayward said. "If the public is losing confidence, the Ministry must come down off its defensive posture and make sure, in addition to papers and speeches, that we do things that gain the confidence of the public in our school system.'' Mrs. Lois Browne Evans (PLP) said Ms Smith "articulated clearly the feelings of the populace''.

She said blame for confusion about education lay squarely at the feet of Government.

"Parents in this Country have trusted the Government with education, but all we got is mismanagement,'' she said, adding that it will be the year 2000 before Government decides what it really wants to do about the public school system.

Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade said: "We can't afford to be cutting anywhere in our (school) system.

But he was most concerned with cuts to money allocated for upgrading schools in last year's Budget.

Delegated Affairs Minister the Hon. Sir John Sharpe said he suspected that no-one initially realised the size of the restructuring process.

But changes were taking place with minimal disruption to children in the existing system.

He stressed that the task of restructuring was in Mr. Simons' "good hands'' and the best way to ensure its success was to leave it there.

Mr. Eugene Blakeney (PLP) said Government should be spending more on education because students were faced with growing social and economic problems and teachers had to take on extra roles.

Dr. David Dyer (UBP) said Government could look at complete privatisation of schools.

The Government would put schools out to tender, parents and PTAs would set up their own boards of trustees, and teachers would be directly accountable to parents.

Mr. Simons said Bermuda College has looked at expanding curricula for black studies and so far "has not been successful''.

But he said there was much more taught in Bermuda schools today about the role of blacks in Bermuda's development than there was 20 or 30 years ago. "Things have changed significantly,'' he said.