London schools face losses of over £600 million
Today, in a separate press release (1), the NUT and ATL are
announcing the launch of schoolcuts.org.uk
(2) – an interactive map of England’s schools which shows the likely
effect on every school of plans to redistribute the existing funding between
schools in England.
Those calculations indicate that London’s schools will be particularly badly hit if the Government maintains its plans to shift the already inadequate overall school funding around the country:
Those calculations indicate that London’s schools will be particularly badly hit if the Government maintains its plans to shift the already inadequate overall school funding around the country:
• In
London, we anticipate real terms cuts of 16% in Southwark, Lambeth and Hackney
and of 15% in Haringey and Kensington & Chelsea.
• Justine
Greening’s own constituency of Putney should expect a 13% loss, or £740 per
pupil. Jeremy Corbyn’s constituency (Islington North) faces a 10% loss or £577
per pupil.
• Across
the capital as a whole, the predicted real terms losses to school budgets total
more than £600 million, equivalent to the loss of over 16,000 teachers.
• Almost
all (99%) of London’s schools could face budget cuts in real terms over the
next four years. One in eight London
schools stands to lose over £1,000 per pupil from their budgets.
NUT holding London rally and demonstration on 17 November
School cuts of this magnitude will have a devastating effect
on London’s schools. That’s why the NUT is calling a rally and demonstration on
the evening of Thursday 17 November. Taking place in Westminster just a week
before the Chancellor is announcing his autumn statement, our march is being
called to make sure our ‘Invest, Don’t Cut’ message is clearly heard in
Westminster.
Event details:
Demonstration assembling at 17:00 in Whitehall, opposite
Downing Street.
March past Parliament and Department of Education to rally
in Emmanuel Centre, SW1P 3DW.
Indoor Rally from 18:30. Speakers include Kevin Courtney
(NUT General Secretary) and Jeremy Corbyn (Leader of the Labour Party).
London NUT calls on the Government to invest in education
As was confirmed in a Parliamentary answer this week (3),
some schools are already facing severe budget difficulties. The NUT and ATL’s
budget predictions indicate that many more schools will face a funding crisis,
particularly in London, unless the Government acts urgently to inject
additional funding.
Kevin Courtney, General Secretary, National Union of
Teachers:
“No head teacher should be put in the position of increasing
class sizes, leaving building repairs undone or cutting staff and resources
simply to balance the books. Nor should any parent accept this for their child.
We are one of the richest countries in the world. We can and we should be
funding our schools properly.”
Martin Powell-Davies, London Regional Secretary, National
Union of Teachers:
“We invite parents, governors and support staff to join
teachers at our rally and call on the Government to invest in children’s future
by increasing the overall funding for schools. If the Government fails to act,
and instead simply seeks to redistribute an insufficient total budget, the
consequences will be devastating, particularly in London.”
Notes:
The website enables users to see precisely how each
individual school could be affected in real terms by the Government’s intention
to implement a new funding formula for schools alongside real terms cuts to
funding per pupil and cost increases being imposed by the Government.
By entering a post code on the website homepage, visitors
can see how all the schools in that area are likely to fare between now and
2020 and how that estimated funding loss equates into numbers of teacher posts.
The formula used in the website is based on the Government’s
own spending plans and school data, Institute for Fiscal Studies projections
for the cost of inflation and other cost increases, and the new funding formula
proposed by the influential f40 campaign group of local authorities.
3) ‘Schools
in debt as funding gap bites’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37860725
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