Third of county schools in red

MORE than a third of schools in Bridgend have budgets in the red, new figures show.

Out of a total of 59 schools in the county there are 22 – 17 primary, four secondary and one special school – with deficit budgets.

While net overall school balances totalled £866,000 at the start of the 2017 financial year, they fell by £506,000 to end at £360,000 on March 31 this year.

A report by officers, which went before councillors at a recent committee meeting, says that had the Welsh Government not provided a last-minute grant of £630,000 towards repairs and maintenance costs, the overall schools’ balance would have been a negative figure of £270,000.

Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, Councillor Rod Shaw said: “I do have concern that so many schools are in deficit. Apart from home to school transport, which is over budget by nearly half a million, the schools themselves seem to have a particular problem in managing their budget particularly when you take into account that £630,000 grant from the Welsh Government towards repair and maintenance costs.

“There’s a significant trend in financial management that we need to look at in individual schools.”

Committee chairman Cheryl Green added: “I’m very concerned that school reserves fell by half a million over a year, there’s not a half million left in school reserves.”

Responding to the concerns, the council’s interim education director, Lindsay Harvey, said: “The challenge for us is to make sure schools are supported to bring about their recovery plans and have them signed off as soon as possible.

“There are only two schools currently who are not in receipt of approved deficit recovery plans.

“One of the schools, through very careful financial management, will hopefully bring their budget in within the next two years so we are seeing some very clear and effective management by schools on this.”

He added: “It is a challenge, undeniably so, but we work very closely with finance colleagues, governing bodies and the schools themselves to make sure we can sign off these deficit recovery plans.”

The end of year figures also shows nine schools – seven primary, one secondary and one special – have more cash reserves than they are permitted.

The statutory limits for primary schools are £50,000 for primary and £100,000 for secondary and special schools.

Above these limits, headteachers are required to submit detailed information to the council on why it has set aside the extra cash and when it will be spent otherwise the council can take action to claw back the surplus amount.

Councillors on the corporate overview and scrutiny committee agreed that the school budgets needed monitoring and have asked for a report on their finances to come back to committee in December or January.