Education Secretary has today (Thursday 14
September 2017) announced updated plans for the introduction of
the national funding formula for schools.
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders, said: “We welcome the government’s
continued commitment to a national funding formula for schools.
It is essential that schools are funded fairly wherever they are
located, and that historical inequities which have created a
postcode lottery are removed.
“Setting minimum funding levels for schools is also a welcome
move, but we need to examine whether the levels announced today
by the Secretary of State are sufficient. We fear they are still
way too low to allow schools to deliver the quality of education
they want to provide and which pupils need.
“The fundamental problem is there is not enough funding going
into education. The additional £1.3bn announced by in July was a step in the
right direction. But schools have already suffered huge cuts and
the additional funding is nowhere near enough to prevent further
cuts.
“And the £1.3bn comes with the caveat that it is one-off
funding split over two years, recycled from elsewhere in the
education budget. The Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that
all this additional funding does is to reduce the real terms cut
from 6.5% to 4.6% between 2015 and 2019.
“By ASCL calculations, a further £2bn a year would be needed
by 2020 to address this issue.
“Furthermore, the national funding formula does not deal with
16-19 funding which is set at an abysmally low level and is
having a major impact on the education of students in sixth forms
and colleges.
“It is time the Prime Minister and the Chancellor
invested more in the future of our young people and recognised
the urgency of an issue which nearly lost them the General
Election. Parents will expect the Chancellor to deliver a better
deal for schools and colleges in his budget on 22 November.”
