Funding for Shropshire pupils to be cut by £77 a head
Funding for every pupil in Shropshire is set to be cut by £77 a year in a move branded "deeply disappointing" by a leading councillor.
Shropshire Schools Forum is set to agree a proposal today that will see funding cut by about £500,000.
Schools that have already converted to academy status are not affected by the reduction in funding.
Councillor David Minnery, Shropshire Council's cabinet member responsible for schools, said that the cut was down to a reduction in funding from Government.
The Market Drayton councillor also expressed his dismay at the continuing imbalance in funding for schools in rural areas.
He said: "We are all deeply disappointed at the continuing failure of the Government to do anything about it."
Opposition councillor Roger Evans has criticised the council for not doing more to prepare the reduction in funding, with Government indicating in 2015 that councils would have to operate with reduced budgets.
The actual cut in funding, of £1.9 million to the Educational Services Grant, was confirmed in December last year.
Councillor Minnery said: "We knew it was coming. In 2015 the Government announced it would be moving away from local authorities having responsibility for educational improvement that would result in some reductions of support grant. We knew that was coming but not the extent or the timetable."
He added: "At the start of 2016 the Government said there would be no overall change to the total amount of funding for schools."
The grant has been reduced from £4 million in 2014 and will eventually be cut to £500,000.
Councillor Evans said that the loss of funding would have a serious impact on some of the county's schools.
He said: "The proposal put forward today shows the amount of money our schools will now get is likely to be reduced even more.
"Some schools are virtually on a zero budget.
"To take this money from our schools will put some of them into deficit unless they take action immediately."
Councillor Evans added: "Unfortunately academies will keep all the money, it is only the locally maintained schools that will lose the funding."
Asked if the change was another way of the Government persuading schools to become academies Councillor Minnery said: "Yes, I think the Government is doing everything it can without changing legislation to achieve the aim of all schools becoming academies."
