East Riding Councillor, Denis Healy, has launched a petition after figures reveal the devastating impact that the Government’s £3bn cuts to education funding will have on East Riding schools, including Longcroft School and Beverley High School.
Schools in the East Riding are bracing themselves for budget reductions of £14.9m in real terms by 2019, meaning an 8% cut in pupil funding, equivalent to 400 teachers’ jobs.
A detailed breakdown of the implications of the Government’s overall £3billion cuts to schools budgets on each local authority and individual school has been released by the main teaching unions on a website called www.schoolcuts.org.uk
Councillor Healy said:
“The Government’s approach to school spending will see an increase in free schools and grammar schools, while our existing state schools struggle to pay for books and teachers. The breakdown of the cuts on individual local authorities shows a £14.9m real terms reduction for East Riding state schools. Longcroft School and Beverley High School will between them suffer budget cuts of £998,000 , which equates to 26 teaching posts. The High School will see its funding per pupil cut by £466, while at Longcroft the figure is £649 per pupil.”
“Parents and teachers have approached me to spell out their concerns, and I am calling on the Government to reverse the devastating £3b of cuts to school budgets that will see an 8% cut in per pupil funding by 2020.”
“Beverley parents are telling me that they think the Government has its priorities wrong on education. The two comprehensive schools in St. Mary’s ward will endure a cut to their budgets of close to £1m in real terms by 2019, so that money can be diverted to fund free schools and selective grammar schools.”
“I am concerned that the consequences of this are likely to be fewer teachers, bigger class sizes and less subject choice. We need an education system which delivers opportunities for all young people, as our Beverley comprehensives have been doing so well in the past. Those opportunities and life chances are now at risk from a Government which doesn’t value the comprehensive system.”
“I have launched a petition which I will be sending to the Secretary Of State for Education and I am urging local people who value our Beverley comprehensive schools to sign it. People can sign it on line at the link below, and I will also be out raising the profile of this issue on the streets.”
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/no-to-east-riding-schools-funding-cuts
“I have also written to the Head Teachers and Chairs of Governors at these schools, assuring them of whatever support I can give them, and will be writing to our Member of Parliament and the Council’s Portfolio Holder for Education to ask them for their support in asking the Government to think again.”
