Redditch County Councillors back Government, not Redditch School Children

 

Today members of the Worcestershire County Council Cabinet voted for school funding reform that will see Redditch schools lose £324,627 in April and a possible £1,534,018 in 2015.

Despite the protest outside County Hall and 6 speakers at the cabinet meeting from a number of areas across the county, including Redditch, County Councillors failed to address the implications of the model they have chosen for our school children. 

They have voted for:

• More Redditch schools losing than gaining. 
• Schools in deprived areas facing losses of over £200,000 while schools in affluent areas could gain over £200,000, with no attempt to address this.
• Greater losses for Redditch with its three tier system than areas of two tier education.
• Reforms that give no minimum funding guarantee beyond 2015.
• Proposals that now do not differentiate between small and large school buildings.

County Councillors have raised concerns regarding how funding affects rural schools, but no mention of urban schools in places with high levels of deprivation.  Today I asked Councillors again to meet with the DfE, as Staffordshire County Councillors have, to raise these issues caused by the Government's reforms.

Schools have not had enough time to consider the proposals, with some governing bodies having only four working days to give their comments on the biggest school funding reform since the 80's and not getting the answers to questions posed prior to the deadline.  I am shocked that Worcestershire County Council have not carried out a genuine consultation on school funding reform.

The Cabinet of 10 Councillors has 3 councillors representing Redditch.  Between Cllr Potter, Cllr Gretton & Cllr Thain, 75% of our town was represented between them.  However, I was angry that not a single Redditch Councillor spoke of the schools they represent and remained silent on the effects for Redditch.

They failed to acknowledge the fears schools have about how they will cope beyond 2015, with hundreds of thousands of pounds that could be lost to individual schools.

An amendment was passed that would see a review for 2014/15 which I do not believe would have been proposed had their plans been pushed through under the radar as was the danger a few weeks ago.

My thanks to teachers & governors who raised this a few weeks ago and in particular to Alison Gleave, Chair of Governors for Wychbold First and Nursery in Droitwich, for having organised the protest outside of County Hall. 

Today's decision flies in the face of seeking fairer funding for Worcestershire Schools. Children get one shot at school and they deserve better.