School Funding

More money is going into our schools than ever before and school funding is at a record high. The core schools budget has increased to £42.4 billion this year and is set to rise to £43.5 billion in 2019-20. This follows the additional £1.3 billion of funding over and above what was promised in the last Spending Review. In fact, figures from the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies show that real terms per-pupil funding in 2020 will be more than 50 per cent higher than it was in 2000. Encouragingly, recent figures from the OECD confirm that our schools get more government funding, per pupil, than schools in international counterparts such as Germany, France and Japan. 
 
Alongside additional funding going into schools, I am exceptionally proud that the Government has delivered on the manifesto promise to reform the way in which schools are funded. This is an historic reform and, for the very first time, funding is being distributed based on the individual needs of every school. Schools are already benefitting from this and next year, schools that have been historically underfunded will attract up to 6 per cent more per pupil compared to 2017-18. I welcome the fact that the Education Secretary is continuing to address historic injustices. 
 
The calculations of the "School Cuts" campaign misrepresent the funding schools will receive, presenting historical pressures on school budgets as if they were still to occur. The Department for Education has continued to challenge the misleading claims made on their website and in the media. As a result, the campaign has backtracked on some of their claims and made changes to their website. For example, they claimed that funding has reduced in real terms in 2018-19 but had to admit they simply got their numbers wrong.