COVENTRY’s schools face a £26million funding cut by 2020, say teaching unions.
And they have warned there will be ‘no winners, only losers’ from the government’s policies – with teachers’ jobs and class sizes at risk.
The projected figures come from the updated School Cuts.org website.
According to the figures, the worst five affected schools in Coventry would be:
* Sidney Stringer Academy £954 cut per pupil
* WMG Academy for Young Engineers £844
* President Kennedy School Academy £831
* Ernesford Grange Community Academy £817
* Barr’s Hill School and Community College £811
The website, published by the NUT and other teacher unions, compares each school’s funding in 2015-16 with the funding the government predicts it will receive in 2019-20 under its proposed new National Funding Formula (NFF).
The figures are adjusted for the impact of inflation and cost increases imposed on schools.
NUT Divisional Secretary Jane Nellist, a Coventry teacher, said: ‘Under this government’s funding policies, there are no winners, only losers.
“Coventry schools are being forced to make decisions that no head teacher should have to make including reducing school staff and teachers, increasing class sizes, and reducing the range of subjects offered simply to balance the books.
“This is an unacceptable state of affairs The National Union of Teachers and Association of Teachers and Lecuturers will continue campaigning for additional funding, to protect schools and our children’s education.”
The Conservatives in government have pledged to protect school budgets.
But the teaching unions have contested that claim.
They say the NFF will only redistribute existing limited funding around the country, while funding freeze and additional costs for schools will cut the real terms value of each schools’ funding by 10 per cent.
The NUT estaimtes es means that 98% of schools will be worse off in 2019-20.
The unions point to a National Audit Office warning that schools will need to save £3 billion by the end of this Parliament. The latest DfE figures show 60 per cent of secondary schools are already in deficit.
