Education Policy Institute (EPI) research on school funding was today raised at Prime Minister’s Questions.
In an exchange between the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister, the former raised new EPI analysis showing that there are unlikely to be any schools in England which will avoid a real terms cut in per pupil funding by 2019-20, even after the introduction of a new schools funding formula.
As quoted in the debate – this could roughly equate to, on average, the loss of almost 2 teachers across all primary schools and 6 teachers across all secondary schools.
The cited findings were from the new EPI report, The implications of the National Funding Formula for schools. The proposed new National Funding Formula (NFF) seeks to address longstanding funding disparities in the school system.
In response, the Prime Minister said the government had protected the schools budget and ensured there were more teachers in schools – while also asserting that there were now “1.8 million children in good or outstanding schools.”
In addition, this week’s Commons education questions saw school funding feature heavily.
You can read the questions and debate in full here.
In the House of Lords, a debate was held on ‘Government’s response to the Education Policy Institute report on the new funding formula for schools’, with education minister Lord Nash taking several questions from peers on the new research. Responding to questions from members of different parties, the Lord Nash reiterated that the government “had protected the core schools budget in real terms”, and that “schools in 2017/18 will having more funding than ever”.
The House of Lords debate can be viewed in full here.
The report, The implications of the National Funding Formula for schools, can be read here.
