After 12 years of conservative cuts and the ongoing cost of living crisis, 50% of schools are already running at a deficit and 90% report they will be completely out of money and resources in the next year. This comes as Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, made it clear that all departments, including education, would have to deal with further cuts as he and the new government try to control the economy and the issues facing Britain: energy bill rises, rising inflation, continued reliance on food banks, etc.
Rev Steve Chalke, whose Oasis foundation runs 52 academies in England said, “At this burn rate, in under three years we will be bankrupt. No one is in a position to keep going for very long eating their reserves.” The Oasis foundation is also trying to find an extra £4.5m for teacher pay rises, which was announced this summer after school budgets had been set, teachers get a 5% pay rise which is less than double inflation currently, so still essentially a pay cut; the peak body for school leaders pointed to forecasts which currently predicts a £2bn shortfall by 2024.
An open letter to Conservative MPs was sent by 13 national education associations calling for assurances from conservative leadership that they would deliver on the party’s 2019 pledge to restore funding to 2010 levels.
The Department of Education stated, “We understand that schools are facing cost pressures due to international events driving up energy prices… that as well as the energy relief scheme, schools would receive £53.8bn in core funding this year which includes a cash increase of £4bn”. This, however, hasn’t been restated by the newly appointed government, and when you consider the 24,413 schools in England, it doesn’t transpose into enough to fix the problems that we have been dug into. Chalke said he was “absolutely frustrated” that the government was planning further cuts as electricity and gas costs in the Oasis foundation had already rocketed from £26,000 a year to £89,000, even with the six-month energy price cap. “Any government that neglects the welfare and education of its children had better be saving up for its future mental health and benefits bills, and investing in the justice system,” he added.
“There are no easy fixes left,” said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, “schools are cut to the bone. This will mean cutting teaching hours, teaching assistants and teachers.”
The fact that this issue is affecting education and has done so for the last 12 years, as the conservative government widened the gap between private and public schools, driving people away from the profession of teaching, cutting positions and forcing compromise on education, is absolutely disgraceful and as the last 4 conservative prime ministers have only succeeded in widening the gap and worsening the problem, it is unlikely that Rishi Sunak will be the one to fix the fact that “future of education is on the line.”
