Cornish schools are urged to spread funds
CALLS have been made for schools to “redistribute their wealth”, after claims that some schools in Cornwall are holding “significant” levels of savings.
A meeting of the Cornwall Schools Forum heard that there was a concern that money should be spent on meeting the needs of children in Cornwall.
The forum, which brings together officers from Cornwall Council with representatives from schools and multi academy trusts (MATs) across the county, received a report looking at how school balances could be monitored.
The monitoring was proposed with an aim to ensure that schools are not building up excessive reserves.
Sean Pinhay, from Southerly Point Co-Operative MAT, had earlier told the forum that a shortfall in provision could be met by using reserves built up by some schools.
He said: “We feel that one way to fund this shortfall is to genuinely look at some of our more wealthy schools.
“There are single academy trusts, MATs and schools that have historically sat on large reserves.”
Mr Pinhay added: “There is wealth in the county that possibly needs to be redistributed to meet these dire needs in our school structures.”
The forum heard that while there are some schools which have large amounts of reserves there are also a lot of schools in Cornwall which do not have lots of money to spare.
David Barton, from the Cornwall Association of Secondary Headteachers, said: “I am hoping that we can look at it in the interests of the children in our schools.”
Kate Evan-Hughes, service director for education at Cornwall
Council, said the council is aiming to set up a system to ensure that schools are not holding excess levels of reserves which would be better spent on providing education in Cornwall.
Ms Evan-Hughes said: “This is not about setting up operations to claw back money, it is about making sure we have a transparent system to check these schools that are holding large balances.”
The forum heard that schools are allowed to hold reserves if they are planning capital expenditure or know that they will face additional expenses such as a need for extra staff or resources.
However, the forum wanted to make sure that schools are not just holding back reserves “for a rainy day” when there are other schools which are struggling financially.
Mr Pinhay said his MAT had pooled the finances of the schools in the trust and individual schools were only allowed to hold a certain percentage of their annual expenditure in reserves.
Any additional money was then pooled for use by all schools in the trust to meet additional costs such as those for special educational needs and disability (SEND) children.
Ms Evan-Hughes said some schools in Cornwall have “very significant reserves” and it was important to ensure these funds were used for the benefit of Cornwall and not just individual schools.
‘There is wealth in the county that possibly needs to be redistributed to meet these dire needs in our school structures’ SEAN PINHAY