To ask Headteachers and SLTs is it really that bad?

[Paris2023]

Press since the start of term and now more recently has focussed on schools running out of money. Perhaps having to shorten days to cover outgoings. With more recent news of further austerity and I believe limited funding what do current HTs and members of SLTs think?

what is the solution if more money isn’t available? A lot of money is being swallowed by higher energy bills.

I can only think of our CEO who seems to do fuck all for 200k and know that would pay for 10 TAs or some of the bills. Ah well, I can dream.

I have just finished bring a chair of governors. I was one for 12 years. Yes it's really bad.

It started years ago and schools haven't recovered. There was no covid money contrary to what the government said. It cost schools. The pay rise agreed by the government is unfunded. Some schools had reserves but that was because they'd got into scarcity thinking (,too firghtened to spend) and buildings were falling apart and no staff training happening, no cpd at all. Lots of schools had nothing.
No reserves now.

And do you not think schools haven't thought about renting out buildings? Haven't tried that? But if they do that then village hall (for instance) goes out of business or there just isn't the people out there. And it's just exhausting without thinking that you have to turn your school into a venue (and drum up customers, advertise, deal with insurance etc etc) just to stop it going under.

I responded to your point about this before, but essentially, some kind of tax revenue will need to be increased. Stabilising the economy will reduce some of the problems, though.

Where does a government get more money from?

The markets have said we can't borrow more so it has to be tax.

There is Amazon, Google and Facebook which don't pay proper tax for starters.

Upstream Oil/Gas co windfall taxes?

50% tax rate instead of 45%

They seem to be fair targets.

Perhaps an event every other month. Wrap around child care with breakfast club and after school club. Selling hot toast at break time for 30p a slice. I think schools have to be inventive

Schools need to be properly funded softest they can get on withbtheir core business of educating.

Increasing capital gains tax would be another one which would mainly hit the wealthy and could potentially generate a lot of money.

Schools in more affluent areas may cope better but not all parents can contribute to 30p toast or car washes or car boot sales and they shouldn't have to. A good education benefits everyone in society. This is false economy.

Raising £25k isn’t going to cut it no matter how fabulous the intentions of fundraising or adding additional streams.

Large schools can be £5m+ businesses in effect.

I’ve been a Head for over a decade now - raising pensions costs ( which will hurt with further growth), costs of food for lunches and resources, paying the team a good living wage, filling in gaps for struggling students are all adding to the perfect storm we can see now.

We knew schools who were full and even oversubscribed were going to flatline as they couldn’t grow income from additional students. It will take a whole new restructure of the system and funding not to mention the cost of school
furniture companies.

In my region there is about to be a massive facilities issue as high schools built in the 50s/60s to only really lay between 40-50 years are all starting to fall apart.

In my school group, we subsidise struggling schools and I just hope if we hit a rainy day then they will be here for us as well.

This sort of thing won't touch the sides when we are talking deficits into 6 figures or more.

It's an absolute sad state of affairs when schools are in debt and taking away T.As and SEN support and all the rest detailed here.
I'm shocked at the provision because of how vulnerable and impression children are.
Liz Truss had a nerve trying to give tax breaks although my staunchly Tory parents would have been happy.
Crazy crazy with the state of the NHS too.

Serious question, not trying to be antagonistic at all, but what happens if all the schools are struggling at once?

Is PFI still an option for school buildings? I know there are risks with that, though!

the problem with the ‘raising tax’ doesn’t mean one tax raised and those funds will go to education. That’s not the case at all.

there needs to be a total across the board rise in tax. This includes VAT, income tax and NICs. These are the taxes that will need to be raised - ultimately the most money isn’t made from the likes of CGT.

Tax where it comes from

At out little billage school they've cancelled the last few school trips due to lack of funds, yet we know one of the governors and he says they have millions stashed away 🤷🏻‍♀️

Pre covid things ticked along. PTA raised 11k per annum. During covid a builder put up 160 family homes, so more pupils. PTA never resumed. It's really tough.

Burden of repayments.

If it were charged at the same levels as income tax, it would pretty significantly increase revenue. I agree, we may need to see tax rises across the board, but we have to ensure it's done in a way that doesn't cause ordinary people to struggle further.

But also, unless we significantly change the way the country runs, in terms of our economic model, I think certain things will have to be ring fenced and prioritised in terms of spending.

I do think education should be one of those things- not least because money invested in education will potentially benefit the country later on, in terms of having a highly skilled workforce.

Maybe Amazon could add TAs onto their website- certainly cant get them form anywhere else.

So what do you suggest? They just let the school fall down?

Those suggesting quiz nights etc. It's chicken feed and there is only so many times you can ask parents who complain about being asked for a voluntary contribution for the unfunded transport costs for their child's swimming lessons. (See various mumsnet posts).

And this is all at a time when people are very justified in complaining about bring asked to contribute with 20% inflation, fuel bills, increased mortgage rates etc.

*being

Didn’t finish. I don’t believe PFI operates anymore.

Supply teachers as well?

You can't increase income tax anymore. It's not palatable but we have an ageing population, a tight job market & a crumbling NHS/social care. Older people are going to have to contribute more eg a charge put on housing. CGT needs to be much higher n

Last week I had to give a parent money out of petty cash for the bus fare to take her child to a medical appointment.

We cannot ask parents for money. They just don't have it.

Not all but some do, and some will want to contribute.