Union in blast at changes to school funding

SCOTLAND’S largest teaching union has said there is no clear rationale behind planned changes to the way schools are funded.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said the Scottish Government had failed to make a convincing case for changing the current funding structures.

The union said ministers had also not demonstrated how the proposed changes would improve attainment or equity.

The government is currently consulting on the proposals, which sit alongside reforms of school governance that will see headteachers given a raft of new powers.

The consultation paper sets out two possible future approaches, the first of which would give funds directly to headteachers through a headteachers charter and the second which would increase the target- ing of funding, along the lines of the approach taken to pupil equity funding.

In its submission to the consultation, the EIS said it did not believe either approach “would drive an improvement in pupil attainment or equity”.

“Furthermore, the EIS believes that proposals set out in the consultation paper could possibly lead to a detriment in the current quality of provision as they could weaken local democratic accountability, reduce local authority ability to deliver planned educational services across an authority and overload headteachers with additional responsibilities without a transparent accountability structure,” the union said.

EIS said there was also “no clear rationale” that linked the proposed changes to funding with the governance reforms.