ONE of the questions left hanging as a result of yesterday’s dramatically narrow decision not to close St Sampson’s Infants is whether the school has been saved – or merely given a reprieve.

The same could be asked of St Andrew’s Primary, although the 29-18 vote in favour of retaining it is rather more decisive.

While the outcome is definitely one for parish, parents, pupils and teachers to celebrate, what the hours of debate and passionate speeches demonstrated more clearly than anything is that there is a marginality about retaining these two establishments.

So at some stage in the future, this difficult and divisive matter will inevitably come back to the Assembly and the decision at that stage will go against one or other, or both, much-loved and highly regarded schools.

Today, it is difficult to anticipate that happening before 2012, when the next general election takes place, but the deteriorating state of the island’s public finances and the unwillingness of Treasury and Resources to bring spending under control makes that prediction something of a lottery.

In the absence of anyone taking a lead in this critical area, departments will sit on potential savings to offer up only when things get particularly difficult.

Evidence of that is the no doubt well-intentioned offer yesterday by the Culture and Leisure minister to use some of his own budget to top up Education’s and retain St Andrew’s. If he has a surplus, of course, that should go back to the taxpayer, or at least to Treasury.

Meanwhile, Education knows that when the chips are down, it has a notional saving of around £250,000 a year up its sleeve by closing St Sampson’s Infants. All it has to do is offer the Assembly the choice of which sacred cow to sacrifice and will make sure that, at that time, it is the school that goes.

That may sound cynical, but it is the way Guernsey politics are played.

More disturbingly, there is no prospect of things improving because there is no political will to take control of what and how the island spends what it removes from the taxpayer.