Government underfunding

Sue McMahon, Calderdale Against School Cuts

No school is immune to the crisis that the government has knowingly led our education system into.

Teachers and headteachers have unanimously rejected the unfunded pay award from the government who would only commit to paying for 0.5 per cent of it; this would see schools having to stump up - out of their own depleted pockets – the rest.

Every penny of any unfunded pay award will see an exorbitant strain on schools, it will impact directly on the support schools are able to give pupils.

It will lead to job loss, increased workload for the staff left, this will create a greater exodus of educators in the recruitment and retention crisis. By offering an unfunded pay award, staff and pupils both lose out

as will the community which the school serves.

In addition, the current funding settlement for schools will mean that, by 2024-25, per-pupil funding will be around three per cent lower in real terms than in 2010. Rishi Sunak’s commitment in last year’s budget to return school funding back to the levels in 2010, will therefore not be met.

With more strikes planned for April and May schools face continued disruption. The unions have stated there will be dispensation put in place to reduce disruption to exams, while parents/carers will be inconvenienced on the strike days, what we mustn’t lose sight of is children are losing out from the effects of chronic government underfunding, not a strike.

The secretary of state for education has got to come back to the table, simply throwing her toys out of the pram and not valuing our schools, our educators and our children is unforgivable but not unsurprising.