Councils concerned over inadequate school funding

A group of Conservative councils have written to Prime Minister Theresa May to voice their concerns over inadequate school funding in England.

The letter was penned by representatives of councils including Devon, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Wiltshire, among others, which form the F40 group.

The group has campaigned for years against unfair low levels of funding in schools and wrote to Theresa May stating that they are “extremely concerned that the government is in danger of replacing one injustice with another”.

According to the BBC, the group had hoped to benefit from changes to the funding formula but now say that the funding gap will stay unresolved.

However, the Department for Education (DfE) say that schools are receiving record levels of funding.

The councils have also questioned whether the funding formula should provide so much funding for additional needs, such as schools with high numbers of deprivation or pupils with English as a second language.

In addition to this, they have said that all schools need basic funding in order to cover essential costs such as staffing.