Forum Brief: School funding

Charles Clarke has promised a two-year cash settlement this autumn that would guarantee every school enough extra money to meet rising costs.

Speaking to the Local Government Association conference on Thursday, the education secretary also called for teachers to have a two-year pay deal to allow schools to budget ahead.

He said: "I believe the relationship between us is extremely important and I want to put time and energy into making it a strong and effective relationship."

Forum Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Gwen Evans, joint acting general secretary of ATL, told ePolitix.com: "At long last the government is on the brink of admitting that the problem was not about LEA distribution of funding for education but about the fact that there was simply not enough cash in the first place.

"Welcome as this admission is, it will make parents wonder why the secretary of state wasted weeks in looking for villains in LEAs instead of ensuring that unnecessary redundancies did not happen in the first place."

Forum Response: Local Government Association

Councillor Graham Lane, chair of the LGA's education and lifelong learning executive, said: "We are delighted that the government has listened to our calls to simplify the funding system and to support local government and local schools to plan for the future.

"The Local Government Association has previously called for earlier - and longer-term - announcements on education funding and pay settlements for schools staff. But the whole local government funding announcement needs to be brought forward if local authorities are really going to be able to plan properly.

"The minister has obviously listened to our arguments here. We will continue to argue for at least a two year pay deal for teachers in our evidence to the Teachers Pay Review Body. We also asked him to help us support local schools in their budget planning and financial management and the minister has accepted that too.

"Local authorities already deliver excellent education services - we will continue to do so. We look forward to further exploring the minister's ten-point 'compact' that rightly highlights some of the key contributions local government makes to supporting the development of all young people in this country.

"The LGA is also determined to resolve in detail the current funding crisis facing our schools. We will continue to put pressure on central government to ensure its ambitious programme for education services are sufficiently well-funded for future years."

Forum Response: National Union of Teachers

Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "Charles Clarke is beginning to recognise the problem and his responsibility for the funding crisis but not the solution.

"Shortfalls in funding will lead to a swathe of cuts in teaching posts and teacher redundancies this year.

"He still refuses to recognise the obvious. Promises for next year will appear meaningless. There must be further money for schools for this coming year.

"It is not good enough to blame job losses and teacher redundancies on falling pupil numbers. Schools were promised unprecedented funding increases by this government. Teachers expected improved provision and reduced workload not the prospect of redundancies."

Forum Response: Institute of Directors

A spokesman for the IoD told ePolitix.com: "The current funding crisis in our schools is totally unacceptable. It is a ludicrous that teachers and classroom assistants are being made redundant at a time when the government claim to be investing record amounts of money into public services.

"This situation needs to be sorted out quickly."

Forum Response: Professional Association of Teachers

Jean Gemmell, general secretary of PAT, told ePolitix.com: "I welcome this announcement. It is imperative that a repetition of the current funding debacle is avoided.

"However, I hope that the funding will be enough to prevent the ridiculous situation we have at the moment of staff being threatened with redundancies at a time when there is a shortage of teachers and support staff.

"Resolving the funding crisis is also essential because any lack of confidence could adversely affect the implementation of the National Workload Agreement, the successful outcome of which is vital for the resolution of the teacher workload issue."