Are school budgets going to be even more fucked after this?

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

I know it’s hard to see into the future at the moment and that most people are just trying to get through the days alive and sane. But I’m concerned about cuts to support staff posts when all this is over. I’m in what many would consider to be a non-essential role (compared to teaching staff) if school budgets had to be cut even further than they were before this crisis. I’m guessing I would be in the firing line. We would manage, financially, DH and me, as we are lucky to be mortgage-free after an inheritance but I do need to have a job for pension and sanity reasons (and not sure whether I would find one easily at my age (late 40s).

So I was just wondering what people who work in school finance think might happen? Government coffers will be empty after this.

As we are paying less tax there will be less money for education.

But most parents want the best for schools/kids/teachers so we won’t let education lose money without a political fight so let’s try to stay positive

The govt have a bill in parliament that allows them to force schools to open.... why would you do that if you weren’t planning to use it?

But they have used it. DH was in school yesterday, I’m in on Friday. We’re open over the holidays right now. I don’t necessarily think it will be used agajnZ

I imagine schools are saving money at the moment. No supply costs. Support staff furloughed. Lower building running costs. Hopefully this is passed on to next year.

True peppa - but they have to pay for more online software usage etc

pottering
The bill hasn’t passed yet.... that’s my point. The current Easter child care opening in fact voluntary and being done with the cooperation of unions. There is no legal mechanism to force schools to open at Easter and it very clear that we are ‘only’ being asked to do child care. Which we have pretty much all agreed to.
So why the bill?

peppa
No school is using furlough to pay support staff. The rules of furlough are that you have to prove that your business can’t pay your staff .... schools income is unaffected.
Building costs are minimal .... again the major costs is care taking and maintenance staff; again all paid. Heating was going off anyway this time of year. Trust me, schools are saving virtually nothing by having no children!! Any savings in resource budgets are again minimal as we had already stripped this back to the bone. Most teachers, especially primary, provide their own out of their wages.
Supply budgets were already pretty minimal but yes we will save there. That will be less than 1% of a budget.

PeppaisaBitch

From what I have been told.

If they calculate the budgets for schools the same way they normally do, any money that is not spent will be taken in to account when they issue the budgets by reducing the new budget by that amount.