Fair Funding For All Schools Lobby To Stop School Cuts
Council and Department of Education say budgets are actually being increased
Chair - Rebecca Wilson of Fair Funding for all Schools, Wandsworth, Rebecca White, Putney parent, James Ewins QC, governor of a Putney school and Kevin Courtney, NEU Joint Secretary
Parents, pupils, teachers, governors and representatives of education trade unions came together on Tuesday 5 December to protest against changes to the way schools are bing funded. Members of the audience included parents and or teachers from Brandlehow, Granard, Eastwood in Putney and Furzedown in Tooting.
Figures from the School Cuts campaign claim to show that Wandsworth Schools will lose around £9m between now and 2020, the equivalent to cutting approximately 150 teachers. The campaign says that this is due to school budgets not being raised in line with inflation, per-pupil funding levels not being protected in the face of rising pupil numbers, and changes to school funding under the new ‘Fair Funding Formula’.
The Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP
However, Minister for School Standards Nick Gibb told PutneySW15.com. "The unions’ figures are fundamentally misleading. They are based on historical data and do not reflect the situation in our schools today. They also ignore the fact that schools funding is driven by pupil numbers and, as pupil numbers rise, the amount of money schools receive will also increase."
He continued, "
As the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed, overall schools funding is being protected at a national level in real terms per pupil over the next two years. At the same time, our historic improvement of the school funding system – backed by an additional £1.3bn of extra funding – will replace the current post-code lottery which saw huge differences in funding between similar schools in different parts of the country. Our new formula will allocate a cash increase of at least 1 per cent per pupil to every school by 2019-20. In fact, schools across Wandsworth will see a funding increase of 1.3 per cent - over £2 million, through our formula.”
The National Audit Office, Institute for Fiscal Studies and Cross-Party MPs on the Public Accounts Committee have all drawn attention to the fact that the lack of real terms protection of per pupil funding, combined with sharp increases in unfunded costs, have left schools facing a £2bn shortfall by 2020, under existing government spending plans, requiring schools to make a 4.6% cut to balance their books.
A spokesperson for Fair Funding For All Schools said, "We have seen cuts in the order of £2.8bn over the last two years. We are seeing the impact in our schools now with increasing class sizes, loss of teaching and support staff, cuts to extra-curricular activity and support services and a narrowing of the curriculum. The parent-led Fair Funding for All Schools campaign is calling on government to reverse cuts made to school budgets over the last two years, commit to protecting per pupil funding in real terms of the lifetime of this parliament and that any new funding formula is based on the principle of levelling up poorly funded areas, without other schools losing out."
The public meeting on 5 December was the first Fair Funding For All Schools activity in Putney and formally kicked off the campaign in the local area. The initial phase of the campaign in Wandsworth was conducted in Tooting earlier in the year which saw over 500 parents pupils and teachers representing 13 local schools marching on Tooting Common and taking petitions to the Department for Education. James Ewins QC a governor for one Putney school said,"The funding crisis is real and having a demonstrable detrimental effect on pupils and teachers".
Wandsworth Councillor Sarah McDermott, pictured below, said, "We on the Conservative majority of Wandsworth Council knew that the original funding under the proposed Fair Funding formula would be tough for London schools. With other London councils we have lobbied very effectively to increase the core schools budget by £1.3 billion in addition to the £4 billion already committed to the overall schools’ funding. This is the biggest increase in school funding for over a decade."
She continued, "Specifically in Wandsworth, based on like-for-like pupil numbers, Wandsworth’s funding will increase by £1.36m in 18/19 and by a further £0.675m in 19/20. So funding will go up by £2.035m over the two years in Wandsworth. This represents 0.9% in year one and a further 0.43% in year two - 1.33% cumulatively. In reality, our pupils numbers will improve next year so the financial increases are likely to be higher."
Cllr McDermott concluded,"In conclusion, there are no cuts. Figures from the School Cuts campaign are pure conjecture and it is outrageous that the unions and the Labour party are scaremongering so blatantly for political ends."
Commenting on behalf of the Fair Funding for All Schools campaign, Wandsworth Organiser Rebecca Wilson said, “Despite some concessions to school funding plans over the summer, our local schools are facing crippling budget cuts on top of major losses already. Parents need to gather together to make our voices heard and put continuing pressure on the Government. This is particularly important in Putney, where all schools face cuts, and where our local MP has real power to affect change. We are calling on all local parents to come and join our campaign.”
Local parent, Becky White said,“Schools in our local area are already feeling the cuts, reducing support for special needs children and not replacing teachers as they leave. This will have a negative impact on the children of Putney and I am not willing to stand by a let it happen.”
Jeremy Ambache, Labour spokesperson for Education, pictured above, who attended the schools cuts meeting in Putney said:
"Our schools are facing an unprecedented funding crisis. It is beyond frustrating to see the
Conservative Councillors in Wandsworth pretending there is no issue for the schools on their doorstep.
Since 2015, real-terms per-pupil funding has been cut by £2.8bn as a result of increasing pupil numbers and increased costs, imposed by the government
on schools such as the increase in teachers' pension contributions, the introduction of the National Living Wage, higher employer contributions
to National Insurance and the new Apprenticeship Levy. Furthermore, the changes Justine Greening is
bringing in next year, the new National Funding Formula, will move money out of
Wandsworth and out of London. This will mean that every school in Putney will be worse off by 2020.
Our schools need the help and support of their Council to campaign against these funding cuts.
Local Tory Councillors are being irresponsible in denying this problem."
Candida Jones, The Deputy Leader Wandsworth Labour, pointed out that The National Governors Association, which is not party-affiliated, states that:
'Funding is now the biggest concern for governing boards across the country.
Unless there is urgent reform an increasing number of schools will be unable
to balance their budgets in 2017 without significant staffing reductions
which will affect the quality of education provided to pupils.'
December 11, 2017