The Government’s plans for a new National Funding Formula (NFF) for schools will see a real terms funding cut for 34 out of the 38 schools and academies in Chesterfield, warns Toby Perkins MP.

A report from The National Education Union (NEU) has shown that the average pupil in Chesterfield will see their funding cut by £165 per year by the 2019-20 school year due to the National Funding Formula proposals.

Toby said, “The reality of the Government’s plans are that these real-term cuts are having a damaging effect on our schools. We are seeing growing class sizes, courses cut, reductions in support for pupils with special educational needs and staff not being replaced. Chesterfield head teachers are being placed in an impossible situation to maintain the standards our parents expect from schools and this will have an effect on the attainment levels and opportunities for our children.”

The report by the NEU shown that 9,400 schools in England and Wales (one third of the total) were in deficit in 2015-16 with almost 4,000 schools in deficit in each of the last two years and 1,600

Toby with Spire Junior School pupils and governor, Cllr Keith Miles, earlier this year
have been in deficit three years in a row. The report also suggests that there will be 32 less teachers in Chesterfield schools by 2019/20 due to the funding cuts.

Toby said, “I once again call on the Government to rethink the National Funding Formula. Further real terms cuts, with schools in some of the most deprived areas facing the biggest reductions, will result in falling standards and possibly even threaten the sustainability of some schools and academies.