Paul Clark gave a presentation
to Members updating on school and education funding following a
report received from the DfE. The key
headlines were:
Schools National Funding
Formula
- Main funding for
schools and education to remain through the Dedicated Schools Grant
(DSG) and Pupil Premium Grants (PPG).
- Schools Block to be
calculated from a national funding formula. There would be no local funding formula,
everything would be centrally managed.
- The component parts
of the funding formula included basic per pupil cost, a uniform
amount for KS1/2, KS3 and KS4 and an amount for additional needs
such as deprivation at pupil and area level and low prior
attainment.
- There was a further
£600m savings target on the Education Services Grant –
of which Bracknell Forest’s share was £1.5m – to
be achieved from LAs “stepping back from School
Improvement” and removal of other duties.
- The role of the
Schools Forum to continue unchanged to 2018/19, subject to review
thereafter.
- The Minimum Funding
Guarantee would continue.
- Support for school
efficiency to be developed to help relevant schools manage funding
reductions.
There would be a 2 stage
consultation process. Stage 1 was the
setting out of the principles and factors to be used in the
formula, closing date of 17 April 2016.
Stage 2 was to seek views on the weightings for each
factor. LAs to manage school budgets in
2017/18 and 2018/19 but to the funding levels allocated through the
national funding formula. In 2019/20
all schools would be directly funded through the national funding
formula.
High Needs Funding
Reform
- Funding to continue
to be allocated to LAs, not schools.
- New funding formula
based on proxy measures to include low prior attainment, pupil and
area deprivation, population aged 2 to 18, geographical
costs.
- Fund mainstream
schools with SEN resource units at £6,000 per place, with per
pupil funding added to the main school budget.
- To add independent
special schools to the institutions that receive £10,000
place funding from the EFA by deduction to LA DSG.
- A consultation would
take place to consider how a post-16 funding formula would work for
mainstream post-16 providers with a small number of high needs
pupils.
- DfE to make available
capital funding for invest-to-save schemes, such as
Rise@GHC and other lower cost, high quality
initiatives.
- £200m would be
available to support the expansion of existing provision as well as
the development of new schools to create new specialist
places.
- Element 3 ‘top
up’ funding to all institutions for assessed support needs
would remain.
- Local arrangements
for alternative provision funding would remain
unchanged.
There would be a 2 stage
consultation process. Stage 1 was the
setting out of the principles and factors to be used in the
formula, closing date of 17 April 2016.
Stage 2 was to seek views on the weightings for each factor and
transitional arrangements.
Proposals for the Early Years
Funding Reform would follow and were set to be implemented from
April 2018.
Paul Clark said he would e-mail
members the full DfE report and asked for comments to be returned
to him no later than 10 April 2016.