I’ll battle for school funding

THERE is no doubt that our country is going through a school funding crisis five years in the making.

The statistics are appalling. Half of schools are now set to see an 11 per cent cut in funding per pupil, while one in six are having to ask parents for money. The Sutton Trust has discovered 80pc of schools have cut back on teachers due to budget restraints, while one in three schools use Pupil Premiums to plug the gap.

Rochdale rarely escapes the sharper edge of government cuts. Schools like Smithy Bridge Primary are having to find eyewatering savings, while Shawclough is losing hundreds of pounds per pupil. In Rochdale, 18 schools are undergoing a staffing restructure.

I don’t need to tell you cuts to education are having a serious impact on the lives of ordinary people. Hard working teachers, who are already overstretched and underresourced, are faced with job insecurity. And what happens to the life chances of our children, when schools struggle to afford even basic equipment like textbooks or computers?

The government is hacking away at school funding, forcing our state schools to go cap in hand, and it is shameful.

I welcome Labour’s fully-funded promise to provide free school meals for all primary school children. It is measures like this that will make a real difference to working families across Rochdale.

I am fully behind teachers and parents in opposing these cuts. As your MP, I will make it my priority to write to the Chancellor to make sure schools in Rochdale get the funding they need to continue to deliver for all pupils