Call for action over school funding proposals (From Gazette & Herald)

Call for action over school funding proposals

12:00pm Wednesday 10th October 2012 in News

NORTH Yorkshire County Council and its schools are urging local MPs to support its appeal to Government to show flexibility over proposals to restrict local decisions on school funding.

The Schools Forum, which is made up of representatives from all publicly-funded schools in the county, has agreed that the council should continue to lobby the Department of Education over proposals for school budgets due to take effect next April.

The council and the forum believe that the proposals will significantly restrict the way local decisions can be made about how schools are funded and that this will lead to considerable changes in funding for many.

County Coun Arthur Barker, executive member for schools, said: “The funding formula for schools in North Yorkshire was designed in North Yorkshire and works for our schools.

“The problem with the Government’s proposals is they impose a ‘one size fits all’ model on the entire country, making no allowance for the fact that our schools exist in very different circumstances from, say, those of a London borough.”