Schools Funding Crisis: Schools beg parents for cash, teachers lose their jobs, subjects are cut from the curriculum, class sizes increase

[noblegiraffe]

...and the DfE go on TV to bang on about grammar schools that the vast majority of kids don't and won't go to.

Charlie Stayt rightly ripped Justine Greening apart over this on BBC Breakfast this morning.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/bbc-interviewer-skewers-tory-minister-10217231

Unbelievable how blinkered the DfE are to the concerns of the vast numbers of parents who simply want their children to have a good well-rounded education, taught by qualified and experienced teachers and how this is systematically being destroyed by poor policy decisions and a lack of money in the system.

schoolsweek.co.uk/ive-cut-teaching-to-the-bare-bones-heads-tell-mps-of-agonising-cuts/

www.itv.com/news/2017-03-10/warning-over-schools-axing-courses-amid-funding-crisis/

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/cash-strapped-schools-beg-parents-10192677

Don't be fooled by any distractions over the national funding formula, this is hitting all schools, who will be seeing a huge increase in costs over the coming few years.

Anon - there is always money for the things the government want to spend on. Governments are not households and their budgets should not be treated as such.
Not wasting money on a referendum and Brexit would have helped. A lot. As would not spending money on Trident, failed NHS IT systems, raising tuition fees (will cost government more than it brings in), universal credit and failed free schools. Those are just from the top of my head. There are more changes that could more than adequately fund the NHS and education. The political will isn't there as the country seems to be becoming more selfish.

Nearly £17 million spent on a teacher recruitment campaign. They could save that by not treating teachers so badly that 1 in 10 of them quit last year.

Its easy to use hind sight and say well we could have saved money doing that, do you really think government choose to have failed NHS IT systems. You say money on a referendum and Brexit was a waste, a majority of the country would disagree seeing as we voted to leave. You say Trident is a waste, others say protection of our country is more important even than education. If you include the failures, free schools are still cheaper than council schools and many people are happy to be free of council control.

We have choices and schools are just one of them. So your solution is just scrap trident, scrap universal credit, stay in Europe, undo failed IT systems, free university tuition, ban free schools and then the schools budget will have all the money it needs? Does that included the NHS, and all the other sectors that want more money? But no one will vote for that because it sounds daft.

Anything more sensible?

Nearly £17 million spent on a teacher recruitment campaign. They could save that by not treating teachers so badly that 1 in 10 of them quit last year

Again you haven't proposed how to raise the money to give to teachers so that they felt they were treated well and didn't quit. And if you give it to teachers you probably have to give it to ever public sector worker. So borrow half a trillion and get our children to pay for it then?

Anon - it is sensible to invest in difficult times. It is exactly what we did after the war. There is nothing sensible about wasting money on nuclear weapons we will never use. We are not a world power anymore and the posturing pretending we are is just plain embarrassing. Failure to invest in the future of the country is a false economy and always was.

Again you haven't proposed how to raise the money to give to teachers so that they felt they were treated well and didn't quit.

It is your failure of understanding of the situation to think that what teachers want is more money.

Donna, I get your CND but the reason I said it wasn't sensible was because most people dont vote for unilateral disarmament. So that position wont get schools any more money. And everyone is for investment, but the question is where would you get the money to do that? Borrow half a trillion and get the kids to sort it out?

It's NOT about teachers pay. It's about basic equipment!
I have told you where I would find the money. Closing tax loopholes would more than cover it!

It will end up more expensive in the long run if the country doesn't invest in education.

I don't think anon gets this.

hpfa. Sadly Dd goes to one of the shittest schools in Lincs. They didn't even get 40% last year.

And her school has been badly hit by this funding crisis. 15 teachers gone and Dd says the teachers left say it's because of funding. Classes merged together in some subjects so 60 kids in a class being taught in the hall because there's no classroom big enough. Loads of subjects been dropped at a-level for sept onwards and I imagine this will filter down.

I've written to my local MP who is a Tory weasel and wrote back saying how the new funding formula is fantastic, etc. Dunno, what else I can do.

It is your failure of understanding of the situation to think that what teachers want is more money

And yet this thread is all about more money. But when people think how schools can get more money they have to weigh up where it comes from and just saying government always has more money doesn't cut it with most voters.

The only sensible suggestion (not saying I agree with it) is to tax private schools more but even that is pegged for food and not funding, so wouldn't help anyway.

Keep writing and keep telling the story then anon and others might realise we're not asking for more pay!

Anon - the money is there for the things they choose not all of which were in the manifesto

Closing tax loopholes would more than cover it!
That's another one of those magic money trees that everyone tries to shake and no one is able to. It will probably be be a slogan at the next election and everyone will groan and sigh and say we have heard it all before.

I do get it but I am not seeing any sensible suggestions on how to raise more money other than borrow it and get the kids to sort out the debt.

It might well cost more in the long run if we dont invest in education, you could say that about many sectors but where does this massive investment come from?

The only one suggesting borrowing money is you. As it happens I do believe we should borrow for capital projects at times like this but that's not what I am talking about.
This government is spending LOADS just not on things that benefit most of the country. The money is available.

the money is there for the things they choose not all of which were in the manifesto Yeah I agree but that money still comes from somewhere. If we need more money for schools and all the other areas of public life we need to spell out where it will come from. Its not enough to say its there, just dont know exactly where.

Education is an essential, not a nice to have in a civilised society. Ultimately our children will pay a high price in the future if things carry on as they are now. I've also stopped buying resources out of my own money too because it just papers over the cracks.

The only one suggesting borrowing money is you
I was actually quoting the Labour leader. And look how many people are agreeing with him.

I've told you where I would take it from. You can't just dismiss my points and say I haven't. You can of course feel free to say you value bombs and tax avoidance over education as you are equally entitled to your opinion. You don't seem to think education and healthcare are worth investing in. Own that opinion.

Where is it coming from to spend on free schools, grammar schools, teacher recruitment campaigns, curriculum reform?

Where is the £500 million for blue passports, the money for extra civil servants and negotiators for Brexit coming from?

Where is the £500 million for blue passports, the money for extra civil servants and negotiators for Brexit coming from?

If £500 million covered the whole cost of Brexit, it would be negligible. But Hammond has put aside tens of billions to cover the damage to the economy caused by Brexit.

The only sensible suggestion (not saying I agree with it) is to tax private schools more but even that is pegged for food and not funding, so wouldn't help anyway.

The money could be used for funding rather than for free school meals. However, many private school parents could not take a 20% increase on fees and would have to move their children back to the state sector, so it's not clear how much money this would actually raise.

I used to live in another European country where I paid over 50% of my income in tax. (I don't mean I was taxed at 50% - the marginal rates were much higher, I mean that I paid over 50% of my income in tax.) Here as a higher rate tax payer I pay much less than 50% of my income in tax. We as a country are choosing to pay relatively low taxes and correspondingly provide poor education, services etc.

Oh I didn't mean the £500 million covered the cost of extra civil servants and so on, just the passports.

But we have a handwringing government saying 'we'd love to but there's no money' to various things then blue passports? Hey presto, here's half a billion we had down the back of the sofa.

You don't seem to think education and healthcare are worth investing in I dont agree with your characterisation, I think defence of the UK is important and tax avoidance should be minimised.

I think tax should rise to pay for the NHS and schools but every time government tries to openly raise tax it doesn't get public support. Its always, raise taxes ... just not my taxes.

Hammond has put aside tens of billions to cover the damage to the economy caused by Brexit
Actually he hasn't, he just hasn't borrowed tens of billions more and not raised our debt higher right now.

In his planning, he has put aside tens of billions that could have been used for other things if Brexit wasn't happening. If you're happy with Brexit, fair enough, but Brexit is clearly costing the country money that could have been spent on other things (even before we actually exit).