Greening: No school to lose out under National Funding Formula
Education Secretary Justine Greening has told parliament that the government is committed to ensuring that no school loses money under the National Funding Formula.
Greening confirmed that the government intended to stick to her party’s manifesto pledge that “no school has its budget cut as a result of the new formula”. Promises of fairer funding for schools were also included in last week’s Queen’s Speech.
However, it is unclear yet what form this “fairer funding” will take or how the government will find the additional funding needed to ensure that no school has its budget cut, particularly now that the plans to scrap universal infant free school meals have been dropped.
The formula that the government proposed earlier this year proved controversial, attracting criticism from many different groups. SCHOOLS NorthEast, whilst supporting the principal of a national fair funding formula, found that the government’s proposals would not fund North East schools fairly.
The second stage of that consultation closed on 22 March (you can read the SCHOOLS NorthEast response here) and the government has yet to publish their response. Greening told the Commons on Tuesday, “Now that the consultation is finished we’re going to explain our plans for the fair funding of schools shortly”.