Our plan to transform education

and give Scotland a bright future.

To get Scotland fit for the future, our children deserve the best education - that's why we'll revolutionise how we educate our children, so they can achieve their potential.

Why we need this:

Scottish education is falling behind.

On the SNP's watch 150,000 college places have been lost, education budgets have been cut and the expansion of nursery education that we won is moving at a snail's pace.

One in five Scottish businesses report they can’t get the skills they need.

If this continues, our children and Scotland will fall further and further behind.

How we'll fix it:

Our plan will invest half a billion pounds in improving education. We'll invest that in:

A Scottish Pupil Premium

Our pupil premium will give schools the extra money they need to make sure every child achieves their potential.

We will give schools thousands of pounds of extra funding that they can spend to raise standards and close the attainment gap. It will give extra, practical support in every classroom. It's already working in England and Wales and it'll make a real difference here.

Expand Nursery Education

We'll massively expand nursery education.

Early education is the best investment in our children's future we can make. It's proven to help children get on in life, whatever their background. That's why we'll fund a huge expansion in free provision to make sure every child is ready to succeed at school and we'll change things so parents find it more flexible and easier to access.

Reversing education cuts

Half of what our councils do is education - that's why we'll protect their budgets.

Protecting education budgets will mean councils have the money to keep the teachers and support staff we need, keep schools open and keep the services that help children learn, like libraries, sports centres and museums.

Support our colleges

We will reverse the cuts to Scottish colleges and bring in more courses to help people train for careers.

Our plan will invest in colleges and put them on solid ground for the future. We will make sure more people can study and businesses will get the skills they need.

How we pay for it:

We'll ask (almost) everyone to pay a little bit more, so we can transform our children's future.

Our plan will put 1p on income tax and raise half a billion pounds to invest in transforming education.

It's the fair way.

The richest people will pay thirty times more than anyone on middle incomes.

In fact, thanks to our increases in the personal allowance, the poorest Scots will pay nothing extra and the richest Scots will pay for almost half of the investment.

What this means for you:

A care worker earning minimum wage will pay £4.17 a month less in income tax next year.

A builder earning £20,000 a year will pay 83p a month more in income tax next year.

A doctor earning £40,000 a year will pay £17.50 a month more in income tax next year.

A banker earning £100,000 a year will pay £57.25 a month more in income tax next year.