Schools need billions more warn 1,000 councillors

MORE than 1,000 councillors have written to the Education Secretary to urge the Government to pump billions of extra funding into schools.

The letter to Damian Hinds calls on ministers to reverse spending cuts and ensure special needs funding is adequate.

It follows a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which last year revealed that total school spending per pupil in England has fallen by eight per cent in real terms between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

The letter, due to be handed in to the Department for Education (DfE) headquarters in Westminster today, said: ‘Many schools are now desperately overwhelmed as more students are competing for fewer resources. The current settlement is not tenable.’

Referring to the letter, Southwark councillor Maggie Browning, the National Education Union’s councillors network convener, said: ‘The cuts to school budgets have reached epidemic levels.’

A DfE spokesman said: ‘School funding in England is at its highest ever level. Nonetheless, we do recognise the budgeting challenges schools face.’