NAHT urges MPs to take the “education funding crisis more seriously”

School leaders’ union NAHT has written to every Westminster MP asking for funding in schools to be taken “more seriously”.

In the letter to MPs, Paul Whiteman, NAHT’s general secretary writes: “£2.8bn has been cut from school budgets since 2015. Seven out of ten of our 29,000 members expect their budgets to be untenable by 2019.”

Mr Whiteman continues: “I’d be very surprised indeed if you hadn’t heard from a head teacher or a parent expressing concerns about school funding over the last few months.”

Mr Whiteman has also written in the MPs’ own magazine, ‘The House’ to say: “The importance of giving all young people a high-quality education is a mission that unites teachers and politicians. We hope that you will listen to what your constituents are telling you about school funding. Above all, we’d like to see Parliament alive with debate about school funding between now and the Budget.”

NAHT’s #TellTheChancellor campaign is gathering pace, with a lobby of Parliament on 24 October, where parents and school leaders will be working together to raise awareness with MPs and encourage them to write to the Treasury to ask the Chancellor to announce more money for schools in the Autumn Budget.

Jo Yurky, the organiser of the parent-led Fair Fund All Schools campaign, said: “We can see the impact of the funding squeeze in our schools and we know what it means for our children’s futures.

“We are letting MPs and Ministers know that cuts to education are not acceptable. We will continue our campaign into this new school year and won’t stop until this government comes up with the increased investment that our schools need.”