Cambridge primary PTA asks parents for £60k to help plug funding deficit

As reported by the BBC, the PTA of a school in Cambridge has asked pupils’ families to help raise £60,000 as it struggles with its budget

A school in Cambridge’s Parents Teachers Association is asking parents to help it raise £60,000 to pay for its budget deficit.

A government spokesperson said Cambridgeshire had received a rise f 3.5% compared with its budget of two years ago, but the head teacher, Tony Davies, said that the red tape surrounding education funding and increased cost meant that the school by no means saw additional cash out of that rise.

The school’s annual budget is £5.3m. While per-pupil funding is £2 more than last year, it has dropped £57 over the last five years.

St Matthew’s has now used up almost all of its savings, with only £82 in reserves.

“We have already had to make cuts in computers and other classroom resources and it has had an impact on the provision of counselling services,” Davies said.

In a statement, the Department for Education said an extra £20m had been given to Cambridgeshire’s schools this year. However, it did acknowledge the pressures on school budgets and said the department would back head teachers “as we approach the next spending review”.

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