Cllr Rachel Bailey on School Funding

STATEMENT RE: DfE announcement on school funding

Councillor Rachel Bailey, leader of Cheshire East Council, said: "As someone who cares passionately about fairer funding for our Cheshire East schools, I welcome the latest government announcement on school funding.

"It is important, however, that we look at the detail behind the headlines, before we can determine whether fairness for our local schools has been addressed fully.

"This council has been at the forefront of discussions with ministers, alongside our local MPs and local school headteachers, to address concerns about fair funding. It is clear that the government has listened to the arguments put forward since the initial announcement a few months ago.

"There are several positive elements to the national fair funding announcement that we welcome, including extra funding over the next two years, the guarantee of minimum funding that each primary and secondary school will receive and the potential for fast gains in per-pupil funding for the very lowest funded schools.

"The promised protected funding for additional needs and smaller, rural schools is also welcome, although once again we will need to see how the funding allocations are applied before coming to a full judgement.

"I welcome the government's announcement on Thursday as another step towards fairer funding and the removal of significant inequities in the funding allocation system for pupils and schools in Cheshire East.

"Our task now is to check the many figures presented in the latest announcement to see exactly how they apply to our local schools and to determine whether they produce the results and greater fairness we – and our headteachers and local MPs – have called for.

"Our continued commitment is to ensure we protect the outstanding education and skills offer across Cheshire East.  

"Our children and young people have a right to at least the same minimum educational offer and opportunities which other similar schools and authorities have. 

"We are extremely proud of all our schools and we will do all we can to help them continue to deliver the very high standard of education that has rewarded many of our schools with good or outstanding Ofsted ratings." 

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.