School balance data shows schools are planning for leaner times ahead

Information released today on school balances shows schools are tightening their belts as the shrinking funding starts to affect budgets. It also provides more evidence of the funding inequality between schools in different authorities and schools in different phases. The Association of School and College Leaders warns that the government’s drive to move to a simple funding formula could simply re-distribute the inequities rather than making funding fairer.

ASCL General Secretary Brian Lightman said:

“It is good to see that the number of secondary schools in deficit has fallen. However it is a concern that there is significant variation between schools in different LAs and between schools in different phases. This underscores the need to move to a funding formula that delivers a fair level of funding to schools no matter where they are in the country. It also makes the point that this formula must be activity referenced and clearly modelled so that it does not create a whole new set of inequities. It make the most sense to start by determining the actual cost of delivering the activities needed to provide high-quality education for all young people. The government’s drive for a simple formula rather than the best solution will simply re-distribute the inequities instead of delivering fairer funding for all.”

“Although annual budgets are intended to benefit the education of students currently in the school, like other organisations schools need a reasonable level of reserves to deal with changes in circumstances and emergencies. In the current economic climate It is understandable that schools are trying to hold reasonable year-end balances. All the indicators point to school budgets being tighter so it is prudent to plan ahead when setting the budget for the 2012-13 financial year.

“No firm conclusions on the level of balances can be drawn from this information. As the statistical release itself points out, the growing number of schools converting to academy status makes year-on year-comparisons in school expenditure difficult as academies are not represented in the data.”

26 January 2012