Free education is being sunk by every direct debit request

Hands up anyone who was jerked awake this week by former Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw telling Today listeners that shortfalls in education budgets could lead to a four-day school week.

How on earth did we reach this dramatic impasse? We’ve grown wearily accustomed to cuts in the state sector – at my daughter’s academy the kids steal stationery and glue sticks from home to bring into school.

Parents whose children attend the two best (only) grammars in our area have been approached to make regular financial contributions to the school coffers. One of them, the vastly oversubscribed Latymer in the north London borough of Enfield has asked for £30-£50 a month to be paid by direct debit as a matter of urgency.

Byzantine rules have led to iniquities in the allocation of money, Sir Michael conceded. He referred to “real injustices”, with some schools receiving up to 50 per cent less than ones with similar deprivation levels.

Sir Michael insists that schools have experienced 20 years of “largesse” and must manage their budgets – but crucially, without any lowering of standards. I don’t envy any headteacher having to choose between larger class sizes, curtailed curricula, pay-as-you-go teaching staff or shorter hours. But as a parent who pays into the system, uses the system and has a vested interest in ensuring that system is fit for purpose – I’m infuriated that my children’s future is at the mercy of beancounters.

Meanwhile, the new cut-price The Independent Grammar School: Durham is charging £52 a week or £2,700 a year for a “traditional private education without the frills”.

Now there’s a bargain; I might even pay it if I lived nearby, but I want to believe in state schools, which served me very well and which I pay for through my taxes. Every child is entitled to a good – a great – traditional education regardless of parental income. I can afford to supplement my children’s schools, but every direct debit request fatally undermines that principle a little more.

At my daughter’s academy the kids steal stationery and glue sticks from home to bring into school