Forum Brief: School funding

Charles Clarke is to unveil plans which will allow schools to be able to calculate their minimum funding entitlement.

The education secretary will announce on Thursday that in future there will be a "minimum floor" amount for each pupil that each council will be expected to allocate.

Meanwhile, one school in five is so short of funds that parents are being asked to give financial support to buy essential equipment and pay teachers' salaries, according to a survey by the Independent.

Forum Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Gerald Imison, ATL's joint acting general secretary, said: "We would not rule out moving to multi-year pay deals as a matter of principle but the idea is likely to prove attractive to our members only if there are proper safeguards in place to make sure that salary levels remain fully competitive.

"Recruitment and retention issues for all staff will become more reliant on salary levels as the workload issues become less important.

"Unless these conditions are met it is likely that ATL's executive committee will want to argue against multi-year pay deals at this time, not withstanding the financial stability that this will bring to schools."

Forum Response: Professional Association of Teachers

Jean Gemmell, general secretary of PAT, told ePolitix.com: "There is a long tradition in this country of parents helping to raise money for 'extras' in schools.

"However, they should not have to pay for basic and essential equipment or teachers' salaries - that is the role of the government and local authorities.

"It is also unfair and inappropriate to ask parents to make regular financial contributions, which could constitute a levy and might well be illegal.

"The government must ensure that schools have the funding they need."

Forum Brief: Rotary International

A spokeswoman for Rotary International told ePolitix.com: "Rotary International is aware of the funding problems faced by many schools and has for many years been providing a range of free programmes for schools.

"The award winning Rotary CD ROM programme Coping with Life is a case in point. More than 65,000 CD ROMs on important topics such as bullying, family breakdown and citizenship have been given to schools by Rotary Clubs in the last four years.

"These have a commercial value of nearly £2 million. In the last ten years Rotarians have organised and paid all the costs to take out a quarter of a million disadvantaged school children on the Rotary KidsOut day in June. A recent initiative is addressing the need to encourage an interest in science in schools with the highly successful Excitement of Science Day organised with the Royal Institution, again all costs are borne by Rotary Clubs.

"Citizenship is now an important part of the curriculum. Rotary has recognised the value of citizenship and sponsors Interact clubs in secondary schools to encourage children to give service to their local communities.

"These are needed more than ever as the Independent survey showed that some schools will not have any club activities next term through lack of funding. Rotary is interested in expanding the number of Interact clubs in schools and would welcome enquiries on setting up new clubs.

"Personal development is supported by Rotary through its Youth Speaks, Youth Make Music, and Young Chef competitions and its Youth Exchanges and Youth Camps. Intangible benefits include Rotarians participating in mentoring programmes in schools and undertaking mock career interviews.

"We are also called on more and more to fund many annual prizes for schools for the highest achievers. To take advantage of the programmes offered by Rotary, schools should approach their local Rotary Club."