Agenda item

To receive a report on the start up and diseconomy funding for new and expanding schools

The Forum received a report from Paul Clark to discuss the Start-up and Diseconomy Funding Policy for New and Expanding Schools. This is an annual report on an important policy that can generate significant costs for which the Forum has responsibility for agreeing.

As background to the report, it was noted that the policy needed to comply with DfE Operating Guidance and that current data identified the potential requirement for 6 new schools in the next 5 years, with Binfield Learning Village all through school opening in September 2018. All the new schools were required in response to new house building and are forecast to require £14m of additional funding support. At this point in time the DfE had not confirmed how areas experiencing cost increases from new schools would be funded other than for 2018-19 only, LAs would receive the same amount of money as they included in their 2017-18 budget.

Concerns were raised by Headteacher representatives that the DfE funding allocation was below the actual cost and that in order to meet the new commitment there would need to be a significant reduction to the amount of funds available to distribute to existing schools in the Borough.

(Action: Funding policy for new schools to be revisited in advance every year by Schools Forum in terms of schools placing and numbers so Schools Forum can make a decision on the budgets proposed)

The key component parts of the proposed funding allocation remain unchanged; pre-opening start-up costs; rates at actual; enhanced fixed lump sum; and per class funding. The policy would only apply to basic need pupils and would not cover pupils from outside the area who want to attend due to the popularity of the school. New schools would be moved to the Schools National Funding Formula (SNFF) as soon as possible with schools moving over at 95% capacity for 1 Form Entry (FE) Schools, 90% for 2 FE Schools and 85% for 3 FE and over Schools.

It was noted that the funding for Binfield Learning Village would be capped at 4 classes i.e. 120 pupils and it was confirmed after questions that any additional pupils attending following school admission appeals above the 120 pupil limit would be funded by the Academy.

An initial vote was held to gauge first impressions following the presentation  on the recommended funding policy with the number of votes being 3 approved the policy and 3 rejections.

Forum members highlighted concerns about the cost of a full time Head Teacher when only 120 pupils would be educated in the first year and questioned whether a ‘school share’ arrangement would be possible which had been the case in previous BF school expansions. It was suggested that this wouldn’t be possible as the academies operating new schools were not based in Bracknell and would be unlikely to accept a BFC nominated appointment and there would be significant difficulties in recruiting a high quality Headteacher on a part time basis. A ‘school share’ approach is possible for school expansions and has been the model used to date in BF. It was confirmed that the contract had already been offered to the new Headteacher so rescinding this decision would be challenging and the academy were keen to ensure good leadership from the opening of the school. It was also acknowledged that alternatives were unclear as stopping the academy from employing a full time head teacher could influence them to open all year groups which would disrupt education in other Bracknell Forest Schools.

Whilst it was acknowledged that new schools would need additional funding, the forum also expressed strong concerns about maintaining the quality of current schools which were already under the pressure of further budget cuts. Councillor Gareth Barnard updated the  forum about his meeting with Dr Phillip Lee MP to express concerns about lack of funding for schools especially in respect of having to fund new schools that were required as a result if government housing targets.

It was explained that any money for the opening of new schools which was not taken from the schools budget, would need to be found from the council’s revenue budget which would put pressures on other areas and would be difficult to accommodate.

Another vote was taken following these discussions where 1 forum members rejected the proposals and 5 agreed, under the condition that their strong concerns were noted and that future decisions concerning new school funding would be brought to the Schools Forum for a decision.

It should be acknowledged that the forum strongly felt that there was not enough money from National Government to run schools at the current level.

(Action: School performance data to be brought to Schools Forum to consider the impact of funding on school performance)

The forum congratulated the authority for looking at the policy in an innovative way under challenging financial constraints linking it to the SNFF.

RESOLVED that the Forum AGREED:

That the updated new / expanding schools funding policy should be applied in the 2018-2019 financial year.