UK Schools could see enormous "stealthcut"

UK - Schools are facing a near half a billion pound “stealth cut” following a reduction in capital funding by the Government, The TES wrote.

In a letter to schools, education secretary Michael Gove said there would be an 80 per cent cut in devolved capital funding, used for maintenance and to buy ICT equipment.

Both primaries and secondaries were braced for heavy capital spending cuts following October’s spending review, but the decision to cut the Devolved Formula Capital (DFC) grant will see the average 1,000-pupil school have its NZ$ 267,000 annual payment slashed to just NZ$ 54,000.

Estimates from heads’ union the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), suggest that the new settlement will equate to around a 2 per cent of schools’ overall budgets.

ASCL policy director, Malcolm Trobe, said the size of the cut was “totally unexpected”, adding that many heads had borrowed against future grants to fund larger building projects. They will now be forced to raid other areas of their school’s budget.

“It is a hefty chunk of money to lose, particularly if you think that a school will be facing reductions elsewhere in its budget. It would not be unreasonable to assume that schools will now be looking at reductions of around 4 to 5 per cent,” Mr Trobe said.

“Schools are facing a big, big problem,” he added. “The Government will say that it is capital funding and not taking it away from staffing, but the money was being used - whether it was on ICT development or new building work - and having it cut means schools will have to find the money from elsewhere in the schools budget. That is why it’s a stealth cut.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said, “The Government has decided the bulk of the funding available should be allocated to local authorities rather than directly to schools, so that it can be targeted at needs and prioritised locally.

“This means that maintenance capital funding will be available for unexpected urgent needs, and that proactive programmes of investment can be planned and efficiently procured.”