EB / News / Finance / New national school funding formula
New national school funding formula
EB News: 07/03/2016 - 09:56
The Department for Education (DfE) has revealed plans for a new national school funding formula to amend the uneven distribution of funding across the country.
In revealing the new formula, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has said that the current system is ‘outdated, inefficient and unfair’ and that schools need funding that ‘genuinely matches their need’.
The changes, which will be implemented in 2017-18, will see local authorities removed from the process, with funding being directly awarded to heads. From 2016-17 there will be an ‘invest to save’ fund to assist schools in ‘managing the transition’.
With the link between schools and local authorities being further reduced, the DfE has suggested that councils will retain some control over funding for areas with ‘high-level special educational needs’.
Morgan said: “We want every school in England to get the funding it deserves, so that all children - whatever their background and wherever they live in the country - get a great education.
“The introduction of a national funding formula from 2017 to 2018 will see the biggest step towards fairer funding in over a decade - ensuring that pupils get funding that genuinely matches their need. It will also ensure that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds continue to receive significant additional funding to overcome entrenched barriers to their success.
“This is a key part of our core mission to extend opportunity to all children and provide educational excellence in all parts of the country: rural and urban, shire and metropolitan, north and south.”
A new report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) finds that the Department for Education (DfE) lacks a coherent plan, suitable targets and sufficient evidence of what works as it seeks to improve teacher recruitment and retention.
A report from the Children’s Commissioner calls for improved access to school transport so as many children as possible benefit from free bus travel, and for all eligible children to be auto-enrolled to receive free school meals.
New research from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) found that disadvantaged students are, on average, one-fifth of a grade behind in English and one-eighth of a grade behind in maths when resitting GCSEs