Increase in schools funding
Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet is set to approve a local funding formula for mainstream schools of £126m – an increase of £9m on the previous financial year.
A report to the council’s cabinet, which meets on January 2, says the council has been moving towards the Department for Education’s National Funding Formula.
Councillor Shirley Reynolds, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for Children, Young People and Education, said: “This is good news for our schools and vindicates our long-standing belief that mainstream school funding for Telford and Wrekin had previously been held at an unacceptably low level by the Department for Education.
“However this extra money will only enable us to catch up with the level of funding received by other authorities and is not over and above what we should have already been receiving.
“It is a fact that pupil numbers continue to show significant growth, particularly at secondary age.
“A number of our schools have agreed to increase their pupil number intakes in September 2020 in response to demographic pressures and we plan to fund such schools using estimated pupil numbers.
“This means that schools do not have to wait for funding to reflect increased pupil numbers.”
It may be possible for the council to adopt the national formula in full as in the next financial year the Department for Education will complete the transition for previously underfunded local authorities – of which Telford was one.
The report says that the National Funding Formula is benefitting Telford and Wrekin schools, seeing an increase of 6.8 per cent per pupil since 2017/18.
In real terms, this has meant an extra £7m of additional resources each year. This is in addition to increases generated by a rise in pupil numbers.
CAPTION: Telford Park School - an example of what can be achieved by proactive investment.
