Home / Governors threaten to ‘strike’ over school funding cuts for the first time
Governors threaten to ‘strike’ over school funding cuts for the first time
EB News: 31/01/2017 - 11:50
West Sussex governors have threatened that they will refuse to work following concerns over funding cuts.
Local head teachers have stated that they may have to cut school hours because of cash shortages and in response to this school governors have warned MPs that they will stop working.
They wrote to MPs saying that they will refuse to sign off budgets and are in “shock and incomprehension” over what funding cuts will mean for schools.
However, the Department of Education (DfE) says that schools in England are receiving record levels of funding.
Governors are unpaid, but contribute to how schools are run by appointing staff and overseeing school finances and the potential standstill could cause administrative problems. However, they will continue to work in regards to issues concerning child protection.
A Worth Less? campaign has since been organised by head teachers in West Sussex in order to put forward their concerns about lack of funding for schools. In addition, a petition has been circulating in support of the protest for head teachers to sign.
The National Audit Office has also stated that schools could face significant spending cuts of around £3 billion by 2020.
However, the DfE has argued that funding for schools in 2016-17 is at record levels of £40 billion.
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