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Diary of a headteacher: School funding – facing the reality

While his school is set to gain under new ‘fairer funding’ plans, our headteacher diarist is bracing himself for continued real-term cuts to his budgets

“So, tell me what you know about how schools are funded and how to manage school budgets?”

I remember the interview question being posed to me like it was yesterday. I think I stumbled and rambled through a series of acronyms on a very circuitous route to something that resembled an answer, but I remember the panel of interviewers looking rather unimpressed with my response.

I took a large glug of water and thought I’d blown it. It turns out I hadn’t.

Now, three years on, my answer would certainly be very different. Unquestionably though, it was the weakest part of my interview and I think back to it now with embarrassment, but with the benefit of hindsight it is no surprise that I wasn’t clued up on school finances.

As you progress through the ranks as a teacher, if you ever get the opportunity to manage a budget it is often a case of learning on the job, sink or swim, without a huge amount of training or guidance.

Yes, the best school business managers will sit you down and show you the ropes, but in my experience this wasn’t always the case. So just pay attention, learn quickly and don’t spend much money!

The fact that it is public money that schools are spending didn’t occur to me, back in the day when I was solely a classroom teacher. My very narrow-minded focus was on what I needed in order to teach my lessons for my students. Achieving best value and analysing the impact of spending on pupil progress were certainly not on my radar, but this was back when schools had some actual money to spend. Or so it seemed.

Academisation has meant that schools must live within their means. Schools cannot run deficit budgets, can’t spend more than what comes in and don’t have the opportunity to work out repayment plans with the local authority for a new classroom block or sports facility. Financially it makes total sense. Why would you allow an organisation to spend more than they are funded with? No brainer, right?

Well, as I’ve learnt, it is slightly more complicated than that. As a new headteacher, with limited experience of managing school budgets, I was thrown in at the deep end and with some serious weights tied to my ankles.

I work in an area of the country that is one of the most poorly funded. If I could move my school just five miles away we would receive an extra £600 per-pupil. Madness! There is no question in my mind that the existing school funding model is a mess. Funding for individual schools with similar pupil characteristics is inconsistent and unfair. As a result, schools around the country that are similar can get very different budgets and children with the same needs can receive very different levels of financial support.

As you can imagine, I have been banging the fairer funding drum pretty damn hard.

However, we are now within the second consultation window for the new fairer funding formula which (if enacted) will mean that more than 9,000 schools in England will lose funding – with money moving from London and other urban centres that have been well funded in the past to schools in areas that have historically received less money. At the same time though almost 11,000 schools are set to gain, of which 3,400 will see increases of five per cent to their funding.

While all this is going on we are being told by the National Audit Office that schools in England are facing an eight per cent real-terms cut per-pupil by 2019/20.

I am pleased that there will be greater parity for schools that have previously been disadvantaged, but it seems that we are still going to be scratching around for money and compromising our educational principles while we all attempt to live within our means.

Reflecting on all of this, I can see that fairer funding is going to divide opinion massively and there are going to be winners and losers. What it is abundantly clear though is that schools will unquestionably continue to feel the impact of funding cuts over the next few years – and this doesn’t sit well with me at all.

  • SecEd’s headteacher diarist is in his third year of headship at a comprehensive school in the Midlands.