Teachers call for more funds to cover ‘ unforeseen’ Covid costs
EDUCATION
THE GOVERNMENT has failed to take into account variable infection rates when planning education budgets, headteachers in Yorkshire have said.
Today they warn extra support is needed to help schools facing increased budgetary pressures – from having to fill teaching roles to unforeseen cleaning bills. It comes after no additional funding to cover Covid- related costs was announced for schools as part of this week’s Spending Review.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said school funding in England will be increased by £ 2.2bn next year, sticking to the spending plan first announced in August 2019 to inject an extra £ 7.1bn by 2022/ 23.
Paul McIntosh, the acting headteacher of King James’s School in Knaresborough, has urged ministers to help after it was revealed this week in Parliament that his school needed to spend up an extra £ 7,000 a week tackling coronavirus. Mr
McIntosh, who took up the post last month, told The Yorkshire Post: “It’s been difficult keeping the school running. The worst weeks were when we had a lot of staff not in for different reasons. We came close to closing on a few days.”
He also highlighted the unforeseen cleaning costs arising from efforts to curb the spread of the virus, predicting the school will face a £ 20,000 bill between now and Easter.
“In the present climate, it is unsustainable to keep
spending the extra money on resources like additional cleaning and supply teachers in order simply to maintain the school functioning in a relatively normal capacity,” he said.
In Sowerby Bridge, Tuel Lane Infant School coheadteacher Judy Shaw – a former president of the National Association of Head Teachers – said more support was needed for rural schools.
Ms Shaw said that 11 of her 25- strong staff were having to isolate last week, with 30 of the 110 children also off school too.
“The pressure on all schools is immense at the moment but it’s particularly heightened in small schools where just one positive test can mean staff, resources and funding become scarce really quickly,” she said.
“Just keeping our schools open and keeping education going and the welfare is taking all our energy.”
She said a further concern for small schools such as hers is the financial impact, adding: “We haven’t got any wiggle room. All of this is unplanned spend, in already stretched budgets. There will have to be compromises along the way. Whether that be cuts in staffing or resources or other important elements.”
Skills minister Gillian Keegan said this week that the Government had given an extra £ 75,000 to schools for “unavoidable costs that could not be met from their existing budgets”.
She added there would be another chance to claim for eligible costs that fell between March and July.