To wonder which is true - school funding

[ThereWillBeAdequateFood]

Head teachers are warning out a school funding crisis. Stating they have having to increase class sizes and are struggling to pay for text books.

But apparently school funding has increased .

What is going on with school funding? Are schools expected to do loads more with slightly more money?

Employer contributions for school pensions are also increasing, this is good in theory for the individual but means the school will have 10s of thousands of pounds it now has to pay out extra in pensions, this could mean in some cases some staff being made redundant which fuels further problems

OP
The IFS analysis is a good starting point. I am a Governor of a small rural Primary School and have been since before 2010 so am aware of the change in funding over time. Yes, there is more being spent on education than in 2010, but
that money is being divided by more pupils on roll than 2010, so a cut in the money available for each pupil;
curriculum changes at all phases of education mean new source materials/text books/equipment - changing lots at one go rather than renewal as books etc become too worn;
inflation % increase in utilities and resources (stationery/training/cleaning etc) has been greater than the increase in budget %;
statutory increases in staff costs compared to previous years that is not covered by increase to school budget eg NI changes to staff pay, building rates, employer pension contributions, apprentice levy 0.5% of school salary costs, staff pay award this year not fully funded;
meeting the first £6000 for each pupil with an EHCP and reduction in LA provided health and social welfare services to the statutory minimum provision shifts care of these vulnerable pupils to school budget;
schools with a 6th form phase will have had more than 20% cut from their per pupil funding at the same time as complete revision of 16-18 A levels/T levels and associated resources change;
significant reduction in capital budget allocation - small primary received £25k pa in 2010 now £6k pa and swallowed just by our IT costs.

To the poster that referred to the UK being at the top of international tables for education spending - that was one of the 'sleight of hand' stats used by the DfE. They forgot to mention, initially, that the total figure in the stats includes spending by individuals on private education and university tuition fees.

The DfE proposed change to a 'fairer funding' formula for all English schools resulted in our LA dropping from 4th lowest to 3rd lowest funded LA per pupil funding.

HTs have twice requested a meeting with the SoS for Education (Damien Hinds - and I know he knows the fallacy in the statements he makes because I have been at the same briefing sessions by the LA for his constituency) and the minister for education (and his constituency is in one of the very lowest funded LAs - currently and under the proposed fairer funding formula. Neither was available. Now what would you think if you wanted to raise a concern with your child's HT and they said they were 'unavailable' or 'diary very busy, no time'?

I’m writing to my local MP about this shit of a response from government. They think we are distracted by Brexit but I don’t think so.

He’s a West Sussex MP so better bloody listen.

Iggly if your MP is Nick Gibb, he's the Minister for schools

No it’s Nicholas Soames...!
Who, incidentally, gave me a rather generic reply to a Brexit letter! Lazy sod

I've written to my mp. He doesn't reply.

When I've caught him somewhere he denies there's a problem and says no one has written to him. Ever.

You can check here :

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/social-policy/education/schools/constituency-data-schools-funding/

All school budgets (individual maintained schools and academy budgets) are available online for scrutiny.

Current Concerns
 Since 2010 school budgets have been reduced in real terms by 8% and by 20% at post-16
 Class sizes are rising and the curricular offer is being restricted
 Increasingly, schools are being asked to support with children’s emotional health and
wellbeing. Frequently, we do not have adequate resource to meet a growing need.
 Often, the most vulnerable students in our schools – those from disadvantaged backgrounds or
those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) – are bearing the brunt of cuts
and schools are struggling to provide the levels of support that they are entitled to.

From my understanding, with then new funding formula, funding is being redistributed. While some schools (not many) are getting more funding as a result, the majority are getting less. Inner city schools serving deprived areas (with high fsms, efl etc) are getting less funding. Certainly it is the case for schools local to me. It will serve to increase inequality, but since when have the Tories cared about that.

The new funding formula just gives politicians new sound bites but does not address the fundamental issue.

There just isn’t enough money being given to schools yet we are happy to let the economy tank due to Brexit.

It’s disgusting.

It's one of those things where both statements can be true - because Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics, etc.

Yes, there's a real terms increase in per pupil spending when measured against headline inflation.

But, it overlooks the increase in costs above and beyond inflation - e.g. increased employer National Insurance costs and pension contributions, increased cost of maintaining aging buildings, an increased demand for SEN and support services, etc.

My reading of the DfE budget for schools is that in gross terms it is more now than in 2010 but has neither kept pace with inflation, nor the increase in total number of pupils on roll. The per pupil amount has not increased.

By the way schools have to pay the apprentice levy. Basically an additional tax from which hardly any schools benefit.

My school is a successful 11-18 establishment. When the new GCSEs and A levels came in, there was a major issue because the cash that the bursar had saved for some long-awaited improvements over a number of years had to go to buy ONE class set of text books for each subject. The qualifications were rushed out (thanks idiot Gove) and in my own subject, the specification text book was only published 2 weeks before the first cohort sat their GCSE.

I regularly buy resources for my teaching. If I want resources, there is no other way as there is simply no money. My line manager was moaning about the reprographics bill this week. The kids don't have tablets or laptops routinely so we do copy worksheets and handouts for them.

Parents are falling over themselves to get their kids into the school. It's a great school with lovely caring teachers and gets excellent results. Yet we are completely and utterly skint. I will never vote Tory because of the way they treat our kids.

The mismanagement of funds by academy chains is also a really important reason
Is anyone aware of any stats comparing how councils/LEA were better or worse than academies at managing school funds?

Where are the schools buying new text books all the time? most schools near me dont seem to use text books.

Why focus on textbooks Walking? There's heating, lighting, gas, water, oil, drainage (rural), office/legal/finance/HR/IT support, paper, printing, training, stationery.

BBC report from 2018 with figures for financial management of academies and LA schools
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-43435689

One of our county schools has been tweeting about this all week and will be next week I think (@paultoninfants) - this weeks tweets summed up here www.facebook.com/397586370735400/posts/551813811979321?sfns=mo
Basically Tories are strangling our education system.

My friend, a head, worked out their increased funding was about 50p a child per annum. So a whole £145

Some of our funding has to pay for 'free school meals' yep those free meals the government peddled out just in time for an election. Those free school meals that most kids don't eat. It costs us a fortune to feed the local kids (most of which are more than able to provide food themselves) instead of buying resources. The government kept it quiet when they retracted some funding for certain schools.

As our school is part of a local authority we are considered a large employer and therefore have to pay the apprentice levy even though we have no apprentices.

Interestingly, we are in the top of the tables for international funding as a percentage of GDP

"The chair of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir David Norgrove, said the Department for Education had misrepresented changes to school funding by not adjusting for per-pupil spend.

"The UK Statistics Authority has had cause to publicly write to the Department with concerns on four occasions in the past year. I regret that the department does not yet appear to have resolved issues with its use of statistics," he said.

He added the figures were "presented in such a way as to misrepresent changes in school funding...The result was to give a more favourable picture."

Sir David also criticised the department for claiming the UK is the third highest spender on education per pupil in the OECD - a group of 36 economically developed nations.

This is true if you look across the education landscape, including universities. But it is skewed by England's far higher than average tuition fees - paid by individuals, not by the state."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-45678670

Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

As Hotter said - what text books?
IME most state secondary schools don't have them. I bought revision guides for DD for her GCSEs, and the only textbooks she got was when she was in 6th form.

Many schools that are part of (multi) academy trusts have to spend hundreds of thousands per annum for the privilege of being members. That's wear lots of money goes.

Where even!

Just because a school isn't buying text books doesn't mean they aren't buying resources. The chances are the schools have bought in packages to help then teach the new specifications, these cost and often are a yearly license not an outright cost. A lot of the online materials students have access to are also incredibly expensive.

Academisation has sucked money out of the classroom and into consultants' and solicitors' fees in the set up stage. Then once chains pick up more than a couple of schools, an expensive management structure evolves. There are more of these jobs than there were in equivalent roles in local authorities and in most cases, they are substantially higher paid than were LA staff.

The system of regional schools commissioners to oversee academies and match-make also needs paying for, and it is hard to see how it actually benefits pupils or teachers.

So as well as rising costs of salaries, pensions, exam board fees, ICT, etc etc etc, some of the 'record level of funding ' is paying for ideology that has scaff all positive impact on pupils.