Commenting on an Education Policy Institute report, published
today, which looks at current school finances, Kevin
Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education
Union, said:
“The increase in the percentage of secondary schools in deficit
to over 30% is predictable and a direct consequence of the
Government’s refusal to adequately fund the education system.
Cost pressures in the education system and the increase in
secondary school pupil numbers mean more secondary schools will
face a deficit in future years. There are 326,000 more pupils
than in 2015/16 and yet there are 5,000 fewer teachers and 10,700
fewer staff over the same period.
“The report shows that despite cuts in educational provision,
school finances are continuing to deteriorate. Analysis by the
NEU shows that 4,819 schools – that’s a quarter of primary
schools (25%) and one in six secondary schools (17%) – received
no cash increase or suffered an actual cut to their funding,
despite school costs shooting up dramatically. More than half of
all secondaries and almost half of primaries are being forced to
spend more than their income this year, so deficits are going to
increase and ‘surpluses’ are going to fall anyway unless
something is done about overall funding.
“The Department for Education’s definition of ‘excessive balance’
is a 5% surplus for secondary schools. This is not ‘excessive’,
as any business leader would tell you, and represents less than
10 days of a school’s running costs. The report concludes that
there is not enough money in so called ‘excessive balances’
to cover the deficit balances. The report identifies £250m in
‘excessive uncommitted’ balances: this is 0.6% of the Dedicated
Schools Grant and therefore a drop in the ocean.
“This is a Government that appears to care nothing for the
quality of education our children and young people receive. It is
time they listened to the head teachers, teachers, school staff,
and parents who are saying ‘enough is enough’ and ensure our
schools are properly funded.”
