Fairer funding for Suffolk schools at last?

For some time the Cabinet member for Schools at Suffolk County Council. Lisa Chambers,  has been campaigning alongside other similarly disadvantaged local authorities for fairer funding for our schools.

While money is not everything of course, the struggle to raise educational standards in the county is made more difficult when, due to an out of date national funding formula, Suffolk schools receive a good deal less than those in other parts of the country. The 10 best funded areas in the UK receive a grant of £6300 per pupil per annum, which compares with £4,200 in the worst funded areas; a 50% difference!

It is therefore good to read this week that on Wednesday David Cameron committed to incorporate additional funding that Suffolk received in the current financial year, that was intended to go some way to redress the balance, into the base budget for future years.

There is a need for the Government to go further however. The whole system needs to be overhauled and a new funding formula created.  In a report published this week the National Audit Office called for this to be done, adding that 'school funding has become more and more unfair over time....As it sets core funding for schools in the future, the Department should use a fairer formula so that pupils across England receive similar funding, reated more closely to their needs and less affected by where they live'.

One of the reasons I stood for Suffolk County Council two years ago was that I am keen to see our children's education improve.  In this connection I was very pleased to be asked this week to join the Schools Improvement Accountability Board which encourages schools across the county in their efforts to raise standards.  Fairer funding should make the task a little easier.