Letter to Prime Minister protesting £3bn education budget cuts signed by over 150 headteachers across North West

Darren Randle's letter to Prime Minister signed by over 150 headteachers across North West

A letter spearheaded by Darren Randle, Headteacher of Hollingworth Academy, to Prime Minister Theresa May opposing the cuts to school budgets by 2019/2020 has been signed by over 150 secondary school headteachers across the North West, including 16 in the Borough.

The cuts, confirmed in a December report from the National Audit Office, amount to £3 billion nationally by 2020, and a minimum of £400 million by 2020 in the North West (not accounting for inflation or the apprenticeship levy).

In Rochdale, schools are set to lose £16,057,783 in Government funding by 2019/20, according to figures from School Cuts.

The Government funding policy for schools means that schools in the Borough will worse off by £16,057,783 worse off by 2019/20 than they were in 2015/16, with 384 teachers’ jobs threatened, an average loss of £495 per pupil.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/107963/schools-in-rochdale-borough-to-lose-%C2%A316million-in-government-funding

Mr Randle's school, Hollingworth Academy, is one of the five worst affected schools in the borough with a loss of £871,860 in its budget by 2019. This amounts to an average of £710 per pupil and 23 teachers.

His letter reads: “We are writing to you to express our significant concerns regarding the unprecedented cuts to school budgets we face as headteachers of secondary schools in the North West of England.

“We know that the Government requires schools to find £3bn in savings by 2019/2020. This figure is validated by the National Audit Office and is, in reality, an 8% cut to school budgets. The Department for Education has insisted that it has protected school budgets in real terms. As headteachers we can clearly demonstrate that this is not the case.

“Secondary schools in the North West have already had to make savings to cope with over £97,000,000 of additional annual employment costs which schools now pay in the form of increased national insurance and pension contributions. This annual figure represents an actual cut to school budgets as these costs have not been funded by the Government.

“We will have to find savings approaching £400,000,000 by 2020 without even factoring in the impact of inflation and the apprenticeship levy. The impact of this is potentially devastating, with schools already considering cuts to arts provision, the curriculum, and the ability to maintain current opening hours.

“In addition, consultation documents for the National Funding Formula show that secondary schools in many areas of the North West will face further highly significant cuts to funding. When this is added to the additional employment costs which schools are required to fund, the impact on schools is likely to become unmanageable. For example, by 2020 Rochdale schools will face at least a £3,200,000 reduction in funding, Manchester schools a £7,000,000 reduction and secondary schools in Lancashire will see their annual budgets, in real terms, reduced by at least £9,600,000.

“This combination of factors means that most local authorities will experience a cut in funding. Even areas which are projected to receive a slight increase in funding through the National Funding Formula, such as Stockport, Tameside, Warrington and St Helens will receive, in real terms, an overall cut to budgets due to the impact of additional employment costs.

“This unprecedented cut in funding coincides with schools having to manage a period of significant change, which includes a complete reform of the KS4 curriculum and GCSE examinations, academisation, KS3 reforms, rising pupil numbers and the third change to school accountability measures in seven years. This occurs against a crisis in teacher recruitment, which is particularly acute in the North West.

“The future is potentially a bleak choice between making significant reductions in staff, with a constrained capacity to implement change, raise standards and offer a broad and engaging curriculum for children, or an untenable budget deficit.

“This runs counter to the aspirations of creating a shared society, and in particular the revitalisation of the North of England through ‘The Northern Powerhouse’ agenda.

“We all became headteachers to make a positive difference to the lives of young people. We are extremely concerned that these budget cuts will harm the quality of education we are able to provide and ask that the Government addresses these issues and properly invests in our children by sufficiently funding education.”

Of the schools in the Borough, the letter has been signed by the head teachers of: Hollingworth Academy, Falinge Park High School, Rochdale Sixth Form, Kingsway Park High School, Brownhill Learning Community, Wardle Academy, St Cuthbert’s RC Business & Enterprise College, Matthew Moss High School, Redwood Secondary School, Oulder Hill Community and Language College, Holy Family RC and C of E College, Siddal Moor Sports College, Hopwood Hall College, Middleton Technology School, Cardinal Langley RC School, and St Anne’s Academy.

In addition to the Prime Minister, the letter has also been sent to: Justine Greening MP, Secretary of State for Education, Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for School Education, Lord Kerslake, Chairman of UK Northern Powerhouse Advisory Board, Directors of Children’s Services in the North West and Members of Parliament in the North West.