Headteachers call for action over school funding

The government has been called on to respond 'quickly and effectively' to ongoing concerns about school funding.
Worth Less?Worth Less?
Worth Less?

Since its inception two years ago, the West Sussex Worth Less? campaign for fairer funding has expanded to encompass more than 4,000 schools in 17 counties, including East Sussex and Surrey.

Now heads at every one of those schools have written to parents, urging them to “campaign vigorously” to secure adequate funding for all schools, while pledging to keep the pressure on MPs.

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A spokesman said of the MPs: “It is crucial that they use their unique influence to hold the government to account on behalf of every child and their families.”

Concerns about school funding was one of the biggest issues raised by voters in the run-up to the election - and heads said they were “encouraged” by the Prime Minister’s post-election acknowledgement that those concerns needed to be addressed.

But they cited a pre-election report from the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies which stated that, even with the government’s promised £4billion investment in schools, rising costs and student numbers would lead to “real terms cut of 2.8 per cent in per pupil funding between 2016 and 2022”.

Headteachers told parents: "The only way for our cash-starved schools to function effectively is for proper investment – capital/buildings and revenue - to be made into existing schools.

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"The government must also avoid giving schools additional money through a new formula and then taking it back again through hidden costs and stealth taxes."

They added: "It is crucial that the new government responds quickly and effectively to a growing crisis in our schools.”

The Queen's Speech, which will be delivered today (June 21), is expected to include changes to the proposed National Funding Formula, such as a higher minimum amount per pupil.

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