to be alarmed at school budget cuts

[clayspaniel]

Apparently some schools are going to be badly hit by the new fair funding formula - inner city areas hit hardest. If you put in your postcode it tells you what sort of cuts your school could face, and how this could equate to teachers and TAs jobs. Not encouraging!

(( www.schoolcuts.org.uk/#/ ))

[christinarossetti]

NBU at all. Really, really alarming stuff, and exactly what all the debates about grammar schools were created to stop us engaging with.

[JellyBelli]

YANBU. I'm beyond disgusted with this govt.
When Labour came in, local schools were literally falling down. It took over a decade to sort things out, now this.

[SaucyJack]

Presumably this only affects schools that have been receiving more than their fair share all along?

I live in West Sussex. Nationally standardised rates are not bad news for us.

[DoctorDonnaNoble]

Not unreasonable in the slightest. We've lost the equivalent of 10 teachers from our budget. So far no redundancies or subject cuts, BUT, our current situation isn't sustainable.

[DoctorDonnaNoble]

Saucy jack it's bad need for everyone As after all the changes in GCSE and A Level I think you'd be hard pressed to find a school that isn't having its budget cut.

[christinarossetti]

Saucyjack, no state school has 'more' funding than they need to deliver a good standard of education.

Schools don't have enough of a share of central government budgets, let alone 'more than their share'.

[Sixisthemagicnumber]

I live in one of the LEAs that has historically had one of the lowest levels of funding in the country so I welcome the new system And hope it will be much fairer.

[mintthins]

YANBU. It is only a matter of time before subject start being cut in secondary, and in primary they can only cover basics. Of course the government would suggest that parents have the "choice" of going private. It is an absolute disgrace.

[SaucyJack]

No Christina, but the vast majority of schools have been receiving significantly more per pupil than West Sussex schools get for some time now.

We'll be hit far less than everyone else due to the fact that we're already receiving less. We may even benefit from national funding rates.

Google the West Sussex Worth Less campaign if you can be arsed. It's a thing.

[DanicaJones]

Saucy and Sixis, if you use the op's link to look for your local schools will they not be losing money per pupil?

[clayspaniel]

Saucy I agree that your area has had low funding, but think YABU to say that other schools have had "more than their fair share". What do you mean by this - do you think other schools have been getting too much?

[christinarossetti]

I know that school funding is a hugely divisive area saucyjack. I live in a London borough that is funded as 'outer London' but judged by 'inner London' funding standards (so compared to schools that have significantly more expenditure per pupil), so repeatedly told that its 'failing'.

The point is that all schools need more funding, some need more than others for historic reasons, but the solution isn't to take money from schools that also don't have enough.

[DanicaJones]

Dc secondary will lose funding equivalent of three teachers and primary will lose funding equivalent of 1 teacher according to the link (Surrey.) Probably a lot less than other schools but not good all the same.

[Sixisthemagicnumber]

Using the link provided it shows that some schools in my area will lose and some will gain. Some are unknown. My nearest senior school will lose less than £10,000 which is not a huge amount of a schools budget. In an ideal world I would like to see every school across the country receive the same amount of funding per pupil (with perhaps a small premium for inner Lindon schools), whereas at the moment the levels in funding varies hugely and that cannot be fair.

[christinarossetti]

Yes, and it's a bit rich to campaign for more investment in schools in your local area, and say that the solution is to take it from another geographical area.

If West Sussex can't run a decent education system within the current funding (and I'm sure that this is the case, despite the best will in the world from the teachers on the ground), how can any other geographical area?

[BreconBeBuggered]

I too live in an historically underfunded area, and I'm staggered to see that the nearest primary school faces an 11% cut. Another, with many fewer deprived and ESL pupils, could have their budget cut by 3%. Can't make much sense of it.

[SaucyJack]

Both of my DC's schools are rated as outstanding by OFSTED Christina.

[Sixisthemagicnumber]

As an example: the lea we used to live in receives approx £2000 more per pupil for primary aged children than the lea we currently live in. I agree that the answer shouldn't be to reduce funding at the higher funded schools and that it would be better to increase the poorly funded schools instead but where will the money come from? The best case affordable scenario would be to split the education budget equally per pupil so all schools receive identical funding regardless of postcode which would mean some winners and some losers.

[Sixisthemagicnumber]

There is a guardian article on it here
www.theguardian.com/education/2015/nov/21/george-osborne-end-arbitrary-unfair-school-funding-forumla
As much as I despise George Osborne I cannot agree with a system which allocates thousands more to some pupils education each year solely based on where they happen to live.

[AndNowItsSeven]

My dd2 school will lose the equivalent of ten teachers!

[christinarossetti]

That's lovely for you saucyjack.

But that doesn't really substantiate your case that West Sussex schools need more money, does it?

[Alfieisnoisy]

Pfft! Of course West Sussex schools do well....look at the population of naice middle class folk and less FSM etc. Fact is that inner city schools with a more diverse population and larger numbers of poorer families who might struggle need the extra funding.

But I digress...the flat issue is this Tory Govt and the fa t they have feck all opposition.

I saw the writing on the wall ages ago with regard to this....my child has leanrig. Difficulties. I went to war with the LEA to get him out of mainstream and into a special school. I worry about the children left behind...these cuts WILL affect them.

[AliceInUnderpants]

You forgot the word England

[witsender]

We are totally screwed here on IoW.