THE historic link between local taxation and investment in communities will be “smashed” by plans to raise £100 million for schools by ending the council tax freeze, officials have warned.
Council umbrella body Cosla also said moves to give more power to headteachers at the expense of locally elected councillors will reduce democratic accountability for parents.
The accusations come after the Scottish Government announced plans to raise an additional £100m a year for education as a nine-year freeze imposed by the SNP comes to an end.
Read more: Row over SNP Government plan to use council tax proceeds for £100m school reform
Crucially, the money will be allocated directly to schools serving more deprived areas as part of a wider policy of closing the attainment gap between rich and poor rather than being spent by councils.
David O’Neill, president of Cosla, said: "There is a clear and honourable link between taxes raised from local householders being spent on local services and this has been a Scottish tradition for generations.
"The Scottish Government will destroy that link with their plans to use council tax money for a national policy. Let's be clear - this does mean that money raised in one community will be spent in another.
"All our evidence would suggest that generally people are happy to pay a little bit extra at the moment if what they are paying for benefits services in their local area. This smashes that link."
Mr O'Neill's comments came after a summit of council leaders, education officials and union leaders who share concerns over the Scottish Government's improvement plan for education.
Read more: Row over SNP Government plan to use council tax proceeds for £100m school reform
Earlier this year, John Swinney, the Education Secretary, announced moves to give legal responsibilities for raising standards to schools as part of a new delivery plan for education.
The proposals will also see millions of pounds of funding given directly to headteachers as well as the setting up of education regions to “decentralise management”.
Mr Swinney has said previously the intention of the changes is to drive improvements by allowing more decisions to be made by schools who are "best placed" to know what their communities need.
But Mr O'Neill said that while headteachers were "valued and trusted public servants" they were not elected.
He added: "No-one votes for a headteacher and nor should they. Councillors stand for election and should be held responsible for taxes raised and money spent in their area. Parents and communities who have concerns to raise or points to make have no democratic ability to do so under the new regime."
A Scottish Government spokesman said the additional funding would further support schools to raise attainment and "substantially" close the gap between rich and poor.
Read more: Row over SNP Government plan to use council tax proceeds for £100m school reform
He said: "It will be for schools themselves to decide how to use the funding to raise attainment. This is a firm priority for this government and we have a clear mandate to take this action.
"No council will be financially worse off as a result of these reforms. They will ensure local authorities continue to be properly funded while giving them more accountability as they will have the discretion to increase tax by up to three per cent.
"It is important that more decisions about the life of schools are driven by the teachers and parents because we know that where this is the case, schools perform better."
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), warned that it was "absolute folly" to consider school reorganisation at a time when teachers were under huge pressure from changes to the curriculum and resources were tight.
Other concerns raised included the pace of change with too little time for consultation - echoing a Royal Society of Edinburgh report which warned against repeating "past mistakes" by introducing the measures too quickly.
Ades, the body which represent council directors of education, said there was no need for legislation because headteachers were already responsible for standards.
Ades also questioned the mechanism the Scottish Government intends to use to apportion extra funding saying free school meals data was not effective.
The summit was attended by the EIS, the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland, local government union Unison, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Ades.
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