Parents take fight for fairer school funding into their own hands

Under the Government’s proposed national funding formula, Cheshire East Council stands to become the worst funded local authority in England for state schools, at £4,122 per head.

Poynton-based Victoria Andersson set up Fair Funding for All Schools – Cheshire East on January 27, and since then more than 1,500 people from the borough have joined the group on Facebook.

The group organised a protest in Nantwich town centre on Monday, February 27, and now it is calling on more people to get involved.

Victoria told the Guardian that the protest was ‘fantastic’ for raising awareness of the issue, but that there is more work still to be done.

“People are concerned about this, but don’t really know what to do about it,” she said.

“Parents need to understand what impact the cuts are going to have on schools in our area, but I don’t think they’re really aware about what the formula means.

“Schools in east Cheshire are already poorly funded – we don’t have new build sites, our schools are older and more expensive to run. If you are already paying more for heating, the funding cut will hurt even more.

“The cuts need to come from somewhere. The numbers of teachers and teaching assistants could be reduced, lessons like PE and music could be scrapped.”

The group is currently gearing up for a meeting with east Cheshire MPs and representatives from the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers at Poynton High School on Friday, March 10.

Victoria is now pushing for as many parents in the borough as possible to complete the Government’s consultation on the proposed funding formula.

“I’m a bit surprised that there aren’t more people getting involved – people seem to be putting their head in the sand and hoping something will be sorted out,” Victoria added.

“The consultation is key. We need to parents to answer it, and contact their MPs to make sure they will challenge the Government and vote with the results of the consultation.

“We know east Cheshire is a wealthy area but it shouldn’t be used to prop up the rest of the country – our children deserve as much funding as anyone else’s children.”

To find out more about the group and how to get involved, email Victoria on fairfundingcheshireeast@gmail.com, search for ‘Fair Funding For All Schools - Cheshire East’ on Facebook, or follow @FairFundCheshE on Twitter.

To complete the consultation, which ends on Wednesday, March 22, visit gov.uk/government/consultations/schools-national-funding-formula-stage-2