School funding cuts will ‘hinder’ the growth of cities and damage the UK’s economy in the long term, city councils tell Whitehall.
London Councils and Core Cities UK have written a joint letter to education secretary Justine Greening urging the Government to invest £335m to enable the new school funding formula to be introduced without any cuts.
The new formula was announced last December in order to end what Ms Greening described as the ‘postcode lottery in school funding’.
She said the current system for distributing funds was ‘unfair, opaque and outdated’, and left students with similar needs receiving different levels of funding due to their locations.
Under the proposed new formula, which will be introduced in 2018, more than 10,000 schools will gain funding, according to the education secretary, and no school will face a reduction of more than 1.5% per pupil per year or 3% per pupil overall.
However, research by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) revealed primary pupils will lose an average of £339 each, while secondary pupils will see a loss of £477.
In the worst hit areas, per pupil losses would reach over £1,000.
London Councils and Core Cities UK, which together represent local authorities in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield, fear the squeeze on school budgets will damage the prospects of the UK economy.
‘Together London Councils and the Core Cities represent areas that drive 50% of the UK economy, which is why we are urging government to recognise that reducing funding for our schools will deal a huge blow to growth and productivity,’ said Cllr Judith Blake, leader of Core Cities UK.
‘If we do not act now, local labour markets in the UK’s most productive cities will not have access to the right mix of skills to attract and retain business.’
The chair of London Councils Cllr Claire Kober said: ‘Transforming school performance requires both leadership and investment, which is why we are calling on government to find an additional £335m to ensure no school loses out as a result of the national funding formula.
‘Finding additional resources can be a challenge, but failing to invest in schools now will have a range of damaging consequences, not only on young people themselves but on the cities they live in too.’
