National school funding formula threatened as councils demand changes
Local authorities have lodged more than 200 appeals with the Department for Education for permission to move away from the national school funding formula next year.
In at least six cases, the requests have been made against the wishes of local Head Teachers.
The new formula is being introduced from 2018-19 in an attempt to allocate funding to schools according to a single set of principles.
But the DfE has received at least 202 appeals from local authorities that want to deviate from these rule.
A Head Teachers union is warning that the calls to subvert the formula are caused by a shortage of funding and will force schools to wait longer to receive the money they are owed under the new national system.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said: “The fact that so many local authorities requested to be able to move their funding into high needs shows that there isn’t enough money to go round.
“It’s clear that there isn’t enough money in the national funding formula, and the schools that will suffer most are those with the most challenging intakes.”
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