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Issue: 58
Bognor Regis Post ISSN 2397-8724
BognorRegisPost Your FREE weekly independent newspaper
Friday, June 9, 2017
Heads braced for more cuts HEADTEACHERS around Bognor Regis are facing a funding crisis. THe Conservatives' predicted victory in the early hours of this morning in the general election means the new national funding formula for schools is a step closer to being implemented. THe formula has provoked protests from heads because of their fears it will leave them facing a shortfall in funds. Figures from the schoolcuts.org.uk website show 26 teaching jobs will have to be lost from 12 schools in the Bognor Regis area by 2033 if the formula goes ahead in its current form. THeir funding from a Tory government will also be slashed by nearly a million pounds - £934,934 - when the impact of rising pupil numbers is also taken into account, the website estimates using figures from the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies. THe analysis shows Felpham Community College will have to cut three teaching jobs and lose out on £130,583 within five years. Headteacher Mark Anstiss said: "If the national funding formula is finally implemented, one year late, in April 2018, it is currently estimated that, over the years, the college could benefit by about five per cent. "THis sounds promising until you realise that unfunded additional costs to schools, like employer NI contributions, extra employer pension contributions and the new apprenticeship levy, are likely to be around eight per cent. "So, even if the formula does go ahead,
Felpham - like most West Sussex schools - still faces huge financial challenges ahead. "It is naive to think you can cut so much from funding education without it having an effect on the provision for children. "Previously, the government has talked about making efficiency savings to make up the shortfall. "West Sussex schools have been making efficiency savings for the last 20 years because we have been at the bottom of the funding league table for so long. "We can't get any more efficient. So, what happens is that resources are not available, buildings deteriorate, class sizes increase, option choices are cut and special provision for our most vulnerable young people is squeezed again." THe funding formula was proposed by the previous government to overcome imbalances in the method used to pay for schools around the country for the past two decades. Although it will lead to more cash, and the Conservatives have pledged an extra £4 billion for education by 2022, it is estimated there will be an estimated extra 488,000 children in the state education system by then. Schools are already facing rising costs which are expected to reach £3 billion already by 2020. THe schoolcuts.org.uk website from a coalition of teaching unions and the GMB union shows every Bognor Regis Turn to page five
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