Concerns Regarding School Funding

Concerns regarding school funding

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP, Prime Minister

House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

The Rt Hon Damian Hinds MP, Secretary of State for Education

House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

The Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for School Education

House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

I am writing to you to highlight the serious concerns I have about school funding in Sefton. In recent years it has become apparent that current budgets are under significant pressure. My children’s school, along with many others throughout the Local Authority, risks having insufficient funds to maintain education provision at current standards.

The increasing cost of pension and National Insurance contributions alongside unfunded pay rises for teaching and non-teaching staff, sees a reduction in the amount of funding currently available to Sefton schools to support education provision by approximately £7 million per year. In broad terms, this is how much it costs to employ approximately 370 teaching assistants or 130 teachers per year. We feel that pay increases for the staff in our children’s schools are fully deserved, but if they are unfunded by government, this will put schools in a position where standards could be seriously compromised.

The school my children attend has, to date, successfully confronted the challenges that diminishing budgets present through careful and considered financial management, seeking opportunities for best value and working collaboratively on the purchase of goods and services with other local schools. It has also successfully implemented a new Key Stage 3 curriculum and reformed GCSE, A Level and vocational qualifications. This has been achieved without being detrimental to the students’ education but a tipping point has now been reached. Maintaining ageing buildings, providing adequate learning resources and wider enrichment opportunities to children, and retaining the existing levels of staff is going to be very challenging to achieve in the future.

As parents, we do not feel that the amount of funding allocated to schools is fair. The government has a duty to ensure that all schools have enough money to be sustainable. In our case, however, funding will be reduced in real terms and this is the same for many schools across Sefton Local Authority. Unless the government acts now, my children’s school will not be able to maintain current levels of staffing or learning resources in the future and the quality of our children’s education will suffer as a result.

We urge the government to reconsider the amount of money allocated at schools, ensuring that they have adequate funding to give children access to a sufficiently staffed, well-resourced education.

Yours sincerely