The f40 Group, which has campaigned for fairer funding of education for over 20 years, has largely welcomed the recent government announcement on school funding and hopes that it means that all schools can look forward to a fairer deal in the future.
F40 chairman, councillor Ivan Ould, a Leicestershire County Council member, said: “We have delayed making a comment until we have had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Department for Education and had the chance to look behind the headlines to check what is really on the table.
“We welcome the additional cash that is being reallocated within the education budget to help finance our schools. We also welcome the pledge that secondary schools will receive at least £4,800 per pupil by 2019-20
“f40’s principle aim is to achieve a fairer funding allocation to our schools and so we are pleased that the government is maintaining its commitment to developing proposals for a national funding formula.
“It is a little frustrating that the government has delayed an announcement on the important details of their proposed fair funding formula until September as local authorities and schools need to know the details of the National Funding Formula now. This delay could create additional planning difficulties for them.
“There are areas that have yet to be clarified, such as exactly how the extra investment in core school services will be used and whether the percentage balance of allocation between basic per pupil funding and disadvantage will be adjusted, as requested by f40 in its response to the consultation.
“Naturally we hope that the details announced in September will demonstrate that the government has listened to f40’s arguments and it will introduce the long-awaited fair funding that we have asked for.”
F40 vice chair Alex Chalk MP (Cheltenham) added: ““It is clear that the government has listened and made a significant move in the right direction. This extra funding for the education front line will be most welcome. In September we will learn exactly how a new fair funding formula will be applied. It is vital that the unacceptable inequities of the current system are tackled.”
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