New school funding plan is '˜excellent news' for campaigners

The Department for Education has announced it will look at introducing a new formula from 2017-18, and branded the current system for distributing funding as outdated, inefficient and unfair.

Former Education Select Committee chair and Yorkshire MP Graham Stuart, said he was delighted that schools in Yorkshire will now see a fairer system.

Last year came up with a revised funding plan that would end the current schools block grants which award £6300 per pupil in some areas and £4200 in others.

He believes schools in Yorkshire have potentially missed out on up to £40m a year.

He said: “It’s excellent news that ministers have unveiled their proposals to start delivering fair school funding, with the process hopefully beginning as early as next year.

“Tens of thousands of people up and down England signed Fair School Funding petitions last year, reflecting their desire to end a system where children have thousands of pounds less spent on their education if they happen to live in the wrong place – like the East Riding of Yorkshire.

“Establishing consistent core funding to which every pupil is entitled represents a huge step forward and shows ministers are delivering on their promises to end this long-standing unfairness.”

A statement from the Department for Education said they will make sure every school and local area, no matter where they are in the country, is funded fairly according to need rather than the oddities of history.

The consultation proposes that basic per pupil funding, funding for additional needs, and school costs – including fixed costs and those related to schools serving rural communities - all feed into the new formula.

Yorkshire is currently facing a staffing crisis as schools struggle to recruit teachers, while there is a significant drive from staff and local authorities to raise pupil attainemnt.

Paul Blomfield, Sheffield Central MP, said the funding announcement had caused concern for some, including a Sheffield head teacher in charge of one of the city’s best performing schools.

The Labour MP told the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan during education questions in the House of Commons that the teacher was ‘deeply concerned by the uncertainty created by the lack of detail’ in the announcement.

He said: “Like all good heads, he plans in advance, and he is now recruiting for 2017, but he is unsure what his funding will be in that year. When can I tell him that he will know whether he is a winner or a loser as a result of the consultation?”

The Secretary of State said: “It is important that we understand the basic principles behind why we are having a consultation on the funding formula—that the same pupils, with the same characteristics, across the country need to attract the same amounts of money.

“There will obviously be another consultation on the details, but it is important that we know about the weightings behind the factors and that there is certainty and transparency for all schools going forward. We have said there will be a phased transition, and that we will be very mindful of those schools where there is potential for there to be less funding, to make sure they are not destabilised.”