Commenting on the report from the
Education and Skills Funding Agency on the school resource
management adviser (SRMA) pilot programme, Geoff Barton, General
Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders,
said:
“We welcome the financial advice being provided to schools
through this programme and commend the work of school resource
management advisers in identifying savings and income generation
opportunities.
“It is important that this remains as advice and that
schools make the final decision over what will work in their
context and what will not. We are pleased that education minister
recognises this in his
foreword to the report.
“However, we remain concerned that the government has
attached strings to this advice by making it part of the criteria
for applications for capital funding. This criteria says that
schools which do not provide an ‘appropriate response’ to SRMA
recommendations will have points deducted. This flies in the face
of the assurance that these decisions lie with schools and may
make it more difficult for schools to access capital funding
needed to keep buildings safe and in good working order.
“It is also important to emphasise that this programme
cannot possibly solve the funding crisis in education. We need
billions to do that, not millions. The government’s recent
decision to allocate an additional £7.1 billion to schools over
the next three years shows that it has belatedly recognised this
fact. Unfortunately, even this additional funding will not
reverse the cuts.
“We are pleased that today’s report notes how useful it has
been to follow ASCL guidance on an approach we use to support
schools called ‘integrated curriculum financial planning’ and
that the report recognises this is not intended as a
one-size-fits-all approach. It is important that schools are able
to adapt benchmarks according to their own context.”
