Shropshire Star comment: A lesson in classroom economics

You have x amount of cash. You need y amount for staff and resources. X is smaller than y. How do you solve this equation?

For Shropshire’s schools this is a practical paper, as it is a live issue for them, and the twist in the tail is that the answer to the problem is elusive.

According to Philip Adams, head of the Corbet School at Baschurch, many services which used to be provided by the local authority have now been cut. In real terms, says Mr Adams, school funding has been frozen since about 2010.

The consequence is that some support services are no longer available and schools are struggling to recruit staff because they cannot provide a competitive wage.

Mr Adams is not a lone voice. A number of heads have written to North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson with their worries.

When funding is short, priorities are sharpened, so what are schools for?

The political focus on schools has been on learning and achievement, and the publication of performance league tables points to the importance which is attached to exams success.

But one of the areas which Mr Adams says has been affected by the funding squeeze has been the grant that paid for the educational welfare services which support pupils with emotional issues.

And if schools cannot recruit staff to teach maths and physics, and those difficulties are now extending to English and humanities, how can even the most able and talented pupils hope to reach their full potential?

There will be those who say that it is simplistic to characterise education as a matter of money, and that what matters is the quality of the teaching.

It sounds from what Mr Adams says that the quantity of the teaching has to be factored in as well. If there are zero maths teachers to teach a particular class, the pupils are not getting the education that should be delivered.

It has long been a complaint from Shropshire schools that their per capita funding looks mean in comparison to other areas. And teachers will be the first to say that education is an investment for the future – not a cost.