THE TORY government has admitted that 5,500 schools face years of financial misery and that they are on the ‘funding floor.’
The Education Select Committee was yesterday told by Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, that 5,500 schools will have their cash funding cut by 3% on top of an 8% real terms cut over this Parliament.
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said: ‘These schools are the big losers from the proposed introduction of a National Funding Formula. If that was not difficult enough for them to manage, they will then have their income slowly squeezed for years to come as their income will not be increased in line with inflation.’
Kevin Courtney, NUT General Secretary, said: ‘The government are breaking their promise to protect school funding. The combination of real terms cuts in funding and the reorganisation of school funding through the introduction of a national funding formula is putting many schools in an impossible position.
‘Today the government admitted that 5,500 schools – that’s more than a quarter of all primary and secondary schools – not only face at least 10% cuts this Parliament but that they will then have years and years without an increase in income. It is difficult to see how these schools are supposed to cope with such massive cuts.
‘It is disgraceful that the government have not told these schools that they are in this position and they have not told them how many years they can expect to face real terms cuts. The NUT call on the government to come clean with schools and parents about the scale of cuts and how many more years they are going to go on for.’
Meanwhile, for the first time ever, school governors have threatened strike action in an escalating battle over school budget cuts. School governors in West Sussex are writing to MPs to warn them they will refuse to sign off budgets or carry out their supervisory work.
They are backing local head teachers who have warned they might have to cut school hours because of cash shortages. Schools in West Sussex have been at the forefront of a national campaign over funding with heads warning that they face cutting teaching staff, merging classes or reducing school hours. This would mean either a four-day school week or children finishing school earlier or starting later, all of which will have a detrimental effect on their education.
The letter from governing bodies says they have been in ‘shock and incomprehension’ about the funding cuts for schools. Last week it was revealed that £384m, earmarked for schools in England under academy conversion plans, had been taken back by the Treasury. The National Audit Office has warned that schools face £3bn in spending cuts by 2020.
