Commenting on the Education Policy Institute (EPI) report ‘School
revenue balances in England’, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of
the Association of School and College Leaders, said:
“The startling figure of 30% of maintained secondaries in deficit
in 2017/18, and the dramatic increase in this percentage since
2014, is evidence that many schools have hit the financial cliff
edge that we have repeatedly warned is looming. This is a direct
result of government underfunding and the current situation is
simply unsustainable.
“Schools long ago exhausted all possible efficiency savings and
have had to make impossible choices over where to cut next with
many having to pare back curriculum options, enrichment
activities and the individual support that they are able to
provide to pupils.
“We note the EPI’s findings about schools with ‘excess
surpluses’. It is important to understand that it is prudent
financial management to carry forward a surplus when possible in
order to provide a contingency to cover unforeseen expenditure,
and the fact that so many schools cannot now do so is cause for
grave concern.
“What is clear is that the current trend is one of increasing
deficits and unless action is taken to improve the level of
funding it is highly likely that educational standards will
deteriorate.
“We note also the EPI’s findings on the financial performance of
different types of schools between and within the maintained and
academy sectors. We need to bear in mind that there are a large
number of factors which affect school finances such as wide
variations in geographical funding allocations, pupil numbers,
and financial pressures such as commitments generated by the
private finance initiative. This inevitably means schools are in
different positions and we need to be careful when making
comparisons and not leap to generalisations.”
