Following OnTheWight’s article published last week about predicted cuts to school funding over the next three years, leader of the Isle of Wight council, Jonathan Bacon has today said the council are also concerned about the cuts to funding.
Cllr Bacon said,
“In response to recent headlines about cuts to school funding, I would like to make it clear that the Isle of Wight Council is also very concerned about the ongoing impact of the squeeze on school funding on the Island’s schools, and indeed, schools nationally. The figures being quoted in the media have come from a Website that has been developed by the teaching unions, the NUT and ATL.
“The two unions have correctly pointed out that the government’s policy of ‘no increase for inflation’ in school budgets over the entire term of this government will lead to an effective real terms eight per cent reduction in the spending power of school budgets because of inflation.
“Meaning the ‘pound in school budgets’ will buy less due to inflation across the term of the government and schools have not been given any additional cash by the government to offset that.
“So while not actually cutting school budgets, the government is allowing inflation to erode them.”
Decision to not apply inflation, a national one
The leader went on to add,
“I would like to make it clear that we pass on to schools all the funding we receive for schools from central government and the approach of not funding inflation is a national, not a local, decision.
“The Isle of Wight Council and schools are waiting for the next draft of the national school funding formula from the Department for Education which will enable us to model its possible impact on the Island’s schools, at which point schools will be much clearer about their possible budget positions from April 2018.”
