The Government is firmly committed to introducing fairer funding for schools through a national formula, but the new system will not be implemented for two years.
The education secretary Justine Greening has announced Whitehall’s intention to introduce a new national funding formula which will apply from 2018 to 2019.
Ms Greening said the new formula will be based on the needs of schools and children rather than on historic levels of funding.
Consultations on reforming the way schools are funded were first published last March and proposals for a second stage of consultations will be set out in Autumn when Parliament returns.
The education secretary said a final decision on the new system of funding will be made early in 2017.
Ms Greening emphasised she understood the concerns local authorities might have about the delay and so reassured councils they would not see a reduction in their funding.
‘I am confirming that in 2017 to 2018 no local authority will see a reduction from their 2016 to 2017 funding (adjusted to reflect authorities’ most recent spending patterns) on the schools block of the dedicated schools grant (per pupil funding) or the high needs block (cash amount),’ she said.
She added that final allocations for schools and high needs blocks will follow in December on the basis of pupil numbers recorded in the October census.
The current minimum funding guarantee for schools will also be retained for 2017 to 2018 and so no school will face a funding reduction of more than 1.5% per pupil next year in what it receives through the local authority funding formula.
Responding to the education secretary’s announcement, Cllr Richard Watts, vice-chair of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Children and Young People Board, said: ‘Councils have long been calling for a fairer funding system for all schools, and it’s positive that this is finally being addressed.
‘It isn't right that pupils can receive thousands of pounds more funding than pupils with similar needs elsewhere, simply because of what budgets looked like in the past.’
Cllr Watts agreed with the Government’s decision to postpone their response to a second stage of consultations.
‘Providing appropriate and adequate teaching and support for pupils – whether in a primary of 50 pupils or a secondary of 2000 – is a complex process that takes time and careful planning,’ he said.
‘Leaving schools with only a year to potentially make some major changes would have been a cause for serious concern.’
While the LGA supports the introduction of a national formula for the allocation of school funds, Cllr Watts also emphasised the importance of local discretion.
‘While it makes absolute sense to have a general formula to ensure fairness between different areas, there needs to be an element of local discretion; each community is unique, with its own very specific needs that can’t be accounted for in a ‘one size fits all’ approach,’ he said.
‘Different weightings for issues such as deprivation and location will help to address this, but schools have yet to see how these calculations will be made.’
The County Councils Network (CCN) has voiced concerns about the delay in moving to a fairer funding formula.
The CCN spokesman for Children, Young People, and Learning Cllr Ian Hudspeth said: ‘County schools have been historically underfunded, and a continuation of this until 2018/19 will have a negative impact on the opportunities and support for pupils in county areas.’
Cllr Hudspeth was also critical of the proposed reforms that would see Whitehall setting schools’ budgets.
‘A national ‘one size fits all’ formula will mean that local authorities, in partnership with schools forums, are no longer able to make funding decisions that focus on the pupils and schools with the greatest need,’ he said.
‘The removal of councils’ role in education was proposed on the presumption of forced academisation. With the forced part of this policy dropped, CCN would question whether proposals to remove local authorities’ role in education, such as the drastic reduction of the Education Services Grant, are still appropriate,’ the councillor added.
