News

Following the School Standards Minister David Milband’s announcement on 25 March 2003, Poole schools will now receive even less government funding compared to other authorities in 2003/04 than claimed initially by Government Ministers.

In January 2003, the Government stated that the increase in the level of government funding for schools in Poole in 2003/04 would be 4.3% per pupil.

However, last week the government recognised that when reductions in other government grants were taken into account, including, most notably, changes to the standards fund, this was not the case.

The revised figures published by the Government now show Poole will only receive a 3.5% increase per pupil. The result is an overall loss of £900,000 in funding for Poole’s pupils despite the Council providing an extra £227,000 from Council Tax over and above that made available by the Government.

Each pupil in Poole now receives £340 less this year than the national average and this places Poole 145 out of 150 authorities, in the government’s funding league:

John McBride, Chief Executive, Borough of Poole said: "All Poole schools are facing a number of difficulties following the budget settlement for next year and we recognise that some will be facing redundancies. We have continually made representations to Government asking for a better deal for Poole schools and will continue to press for ‘fair funding’. Individual representations will be made together with the collective support gained from being a member of the F40 group of poorest funded Local Education Authorities."