Today we are looking at the NUT/ATL teacher survey on school funding.
Today, Monday 10 April, the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (NUT/ATL) released a joint press release about funding pressures in schools after carrying out a survey of 1,200 of their members. Within this, some schools have said they have seen a cut in funding since last year and are now having to resort to asking parents for voluntary contributions.
The story had widespread coverage both on broadcast, print and online with the Daily Express (p.15), Metro (p.2), I (p,10), Daily Star (p.16) and Daily Mail (p.28), The Times (p.18), BBC and the Independent online all writing up the story. It was also featured on the Today programme and BBC Breakfast bulletins.
We have been consulting schools, governors, local authorities and parents on a proposed new funding formula that would see half of schools in England see a cash boost, with over 3,000 gaining more than 5 per cent. We will carefully consider the responses to the consultation to make sure we get the formula right and every pound of the investment we make in education has the greatest impact. The NUT and ATL themselves have supported this formula.
A Department for Education spokesperson said:
The government has protected the core schools budget in real terms since 2010, with school funding at its highest level on record at almost £41 billion in 2017-18 – and that is set to rise, as pupil numbers rise over the next two years, to £42 billion by 2019-20.
We recognise that schools are facing cost pressures, which is why we will continue to provide support to help them use their funding in cost effective ways and make efficiencies. This includes improving the way they buy goods and services and our recently published School Buying Strategy is designed to help schools save over £1bn a year by 2019-20 on non-staff spend.