Revealed: Shropshire school budgets cut by millions
Shropshire schools have had their funding cut by about three per cent per pupil over the past year, according to new figures.
However, schools in Telford & Wrekin suffered a larger hit, with per-pupil funding down by £233 in real terms, compared to last year – a drop of just over five per cent.
The effect was slightly less pronounced for the rest of the county, with spending per pupil down from £4,482 in real terms to £4,341 – a fall of 3.1 per cent.
The figures are taken from the annual schools budget, which details how much each council plans to spend on education over the financial year.
The money comes directly from the Government in the form of a centralised grant.
The 2018/19 grant for Shropshire is £176.8 million, while for Telford & Wrekin it is £130 million.
Both local authorities receive well below the English average of £4,528 per pupil this year.
Their budgets have also been cut much more severely than the national figure, which saw a real terms cut of one per cent over the same time period.
Textbooks
The spending per pupil figure covers all the costs of education, from teachers’ salaries to textbooks.
The Department for Education said that school funding in England will rise to a record £43.5 billion by 2020, and that funding for pupils with additional needs has risen from £5 billion in 2013 to over £6 billion this year.
“We know we are asking schools to do more,” said a DfE spokesman.
“That’s why the Education Secretary has set out his determination to work with the sector to reduce cost pressures, including things like stationery, energy and water bills.
“There is more money going into schools than ever before.”
But the National Education Union said the DfE’s claim was “disingenuous”, “misleading to parents” and “insulting to schools”.
The union’s joint general secretary Mary Bousted said this ignored the costs of inflation and rising pupil numbers.
“Schools are on their knees,” she said.
“They need significant investment to reverse the cuts of the last three years, address historic underfunding of some areas and tackle the crisis in school funding for pupils with special needs.”
