Schools in Burton and surrounds face cuts of £2.5m next year
Burton Liberal Democrats are calling on the Chancellor to protect education spending, as shocking new figures show that schools across Ms Kniveton's East Staffs constituency face cuts in their spending power of £2.5m next year.
The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, should not make children and young people pay for the Conservatives' botched Budget by cutting school and college funding further during next week's Autumn Statement.
The figures, published today (8 November) by the 'School Cuts' campaign run by teaching unions, reveal that schools in this constituency will have £160 less to spend per pupil next year (2023/24) compared to this year (2022/23).
In total, 38 of 44 schools will see a reduction in their spending power next year compared to this year.
The figures estimate the true spending power that schools have after increases in teacher salaries, pensions, tax and non-staff costs have all been taken into account. It comes after the Government instructed council-run schools to give teachers a much-deserved pay rise of between 5% and 8.9% this year, but gave schools no extra money to pay for it, meaning that they had to make cuts elsewhere.
Overall, nine in ten schools across England will have less spending power next year compared to this year.
Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Munira Wilson MP added:
"The Conservatives are planning more public spending cuts to pay for their own economic incompetence. School trips are already being axed, teaching assistants are being laid off and urgent classroom repairs are being ignored.
"Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt must confirm urgently that they will not cut real-terms funding for schools and colleges during next week's Autumn Statement. The Conservatives must not balance the books on the backs of
Data taken from the https://schoolcuts.org.uk/ website, maintained by the National Education Union, which was updated with figures for 2023/24 on 8 November. An explanation of their methodology is available on their website.