Fears Shropshire schools may lose on funding
Education bosses in Shropshire fear some schools in the county could lose up to £83,000 under changes made by the Government to the way they are funded.
Shropshire's Schools Forum has calculated that 46 out of 128 primary schools and 12 out of 22 secondary schools in the county will ultimately have less money because of the changes due to be implemented.
School budgets are allocated by the Government based on a 'funding formula' and Shropshire Council says councils are being given less local flexibility about how to use it to distribute budgets to their schools.
And the unitary authority and forum have written a joint letter to Secretary of State Michael Gove to air concerns about the impact the new funding formula will have on rural areas.
From April the formula is changing in an attempt to ensure fairer funding.
Money will be allocated to schools mainly based on the number of pupils each school has on roll.
The forum, which is made up of headteachers, governors, education and council representatives, says primary schools worst affected in
Shropshire could see reductions of up to £31,000, with the worst affected secondary schools potentially losing up to £83,000.
But it says other schools will benefit, with some primary schools gaining up to £41,000 and some secondary schools seeing increases of up to £32,000.
There is a minimum funding guarantee in place, which means no individual school budget can be reduced by more than 1.5 per cent per pupil from one year to the next.
Cecilia Motley, Shropshire Council's cabinet member for learning and skills, said: "We understand why the Government is changing the funding formula but we don't think they fully appreciate the impact it will have on rural areas like Shropshire."
