Political parties ‘must address school funding’ in elections

The two main political parties have remained “silent” on pressing school funding issues, their leaders warn, as the country prepares for next week’s general election.

This is despite funding being the “most important” issue schools face, according to finance officials, governors and administrators who spoke with them. Yes.

“There have been a few things that have leaked out, but we are concerned that there is not a real conversation happening about school funding,” said Stephen Morales, CEO of the Institute of School Business Leadership.

Mr Morales called on the main political parties to present more detailed plans on what they would do in terms of school funding during their first 100 days in government, with a particular focus on financing school construction projects. Capital and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), and review the distribution of the National Funding Formula (NFF).

“We have to recognize that the school complex is on the verge of collapse and, in some cases, it is collapsing,” Mr. Morales said.

Uncertainty over school funding

He called for a “proper and costed” five-year plan to provide funding for the maintenance and rebuilding of school buildings during the next spending review period.

More money for SEND is also needed, as well as a “complete reimagining” of how SEND provision is commissioned, Mr Morales added.

“At the moment it feels like we are just throwing money into a bottomless pit. It’s very broken,” he said.

In a letter seen by Yourmulti-academy trust ROBUS, which has four schools in Essex, has told the Education Secretary it is facing “significant” financial problems.

“We face significant financial challenges with little or no room to maneuver,” David Norris, chairman of the ROBUS board, wrote to Gillian Keegan this month.

Your This appears to be the third letter the trust has written to the Department for Education in the last three years, and the trust has also raised its concerns with its local Conservative MP, Rebecca Harris.

Mr Norris writes: “Underfunding and lack of clarity on future funding is forcing MATs to use their reserves to fund the year’s deficits. »

His letter refers to the discovery, revealed in Yourthat there has been a 42 per cent increase in the number of MATs with reserve levels that suggest “financial vulnerability”, by the DfE’s own definition.

ROBUS is forced to “make short-term decisions, particularly regarding staffing levels, to remain viable,” the letter states.

Emma Knights, chief executive of the National Governance Association, said these concerns are shared by many other boards.

“Funding issues are the biggest problem facing (boards), and it’s growing,” she said.

“More and more boards of directors are concerned with balancing the books in the short term, but even in the medium term. »

Party school funding commitments

The Conservative Party is committed to protecting basic daily per-pupil funding for schools. His party’s manifesto also reiterates commitments to rebuild 500 schools through the existing school rebuilding program and to provide 60,000 additional school places and new free schools for children with SEND.

Labor has made no firm commitments to core school funding or capital funding. On SEND, the party is committed to improving inclusiveness and expertise in mainstream schools and ensuring special schools meet the most complex needs.

The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, have pledged to increase school funding per student each year beyond the rate of inflation. The party also plans to create a new national body for SEND to fund support for children with high needs.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that although the next government could save £3.5 billion by freezing per-pupil spending until 2029, due to falling pupil numbers, the costs schools face faced would mean that many would have to reduce their workforce and some could be downsized. forced to close.

Mr. Morales said the total amount of school funding should not decrease as student numbers decline. He instead called for the total £60 billion of funding currently available to schools to be ring-fenced, and for any surplus to be used to ensure fairness in the distribution of funding.

Unions have also warned of the impact of a failure to resolve school funding problems.

In a survey conducted by the Association of School and College Leaders, about three-quarters of school principals predict they should increase class sizes over the next year, and nearly 60 percent predict that they will have to reduce their program offering.

The Education Policy Institute think tank has also warned that limited funding commitments for SEND pupils “pose a serious threat” to provision.

Schools will have to wait until after the election to see what teacher pay raises will be for 2024-25. Several CEOs of multi-academy trusts have warned they would struggle to afford a pay rise of more than 2 to 3 percent without additional government funding – but said the pay rise would have to be higher to resolve the teacher recruitment crisis and avoid a strike.

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