SCHOOL FUNDS

There has been a storm of protest nationally from head teachers saying they have not been given enough money to run their schools. Some have been forced to send pupils home. Others are issuing redundancy notices to teachers because they cannot afford them. Shorter school weeks and teacher redundancies are real possibilities in the future, according to education experts in Derbyshire. The fears have been raised as head teachers set their budgets for 2003/04. Ironically, schools across the country have been given more cash than ever in their annual budget settlement from the Government.

Quite rightly, the increases in cash of between eight and 11%, led to many head teachers across Derbyshire believing they would be laughing all the way to the bank. But they have been left scratching their heads in bewilderment because, after setting aside cash for running costs, they are worse off than ever before. It seems that the root of the problem is the large increase in teaching costs this year. National contributions, pensions and wage bills have all gone up significantly - swallowing up large chunks of the extra cash. This combined with reductions in the Standards Fund, which has been used for the last few years to finance specific learning projects, has used up most of the extra cash.

The Government initially hit back at critics by accusing the local education authorities, including Derby and Derbyshire, of holding back cash, to the tune of £500m nationally. Locally, the city and county councils have accounted for every penny and say that money they are holding - £1.4m and £12.7m respectively, is for specific projects for 2003 and 2004 and approved by the schools. Added to the financial headache facing schools is the pressure of meeting new Government targets to reduce teachers' workload. From September, they will not have to perform administrative tasks such as photocopying.

Schools are meant to employ teaching assistants to carry out the tasks but, in most cases, head teachers simply have not got the money to employ them and fear they will not meet the Government's requirements. Fortunately, no specific targets have been set and they will not be penalised. Another factor in the equation is the fact that some schools in across the county have falling pupil numbers. As schools are given money per pupil, this adds significantly to the gloomy outlook. Schools in challenging circumstances, such as low pupil performance or disadvantaged areas, have been lucky enough to receive school leadership incentive grants of £125,000.

But the overall picture seems to be one of making do this year, with many plans for development on hold and, in some cases, cutbacks in stationery and books. The real worry for almost every head teacher is what might happen in 2004. To make up the losses from 2003, next year's Government budget settlement needs to be at least that of this year and more, if schools are to maintain the status quo, something that most heads cannot see happening. Most of them feel that even if redundancies or shorter working weeks can be avoided, they may not be held back forever.

By law, each school should have a balanced budget every year but, in special financial circumstances, they can apply to the local education authority to balance the books over a two or three-year period. This will temporarily keep the pressure away, but there are real concerns about what will happen to these schools if funding does not improve. Alan Wayment, head teacher at 1,200-pupil Woodlands Community School, Blenheim Drive, Allestree, sees redundancies as a possibility. He said his school was not fortunate enough to attract additional funding because it was not in dire straits geographically or academically.

He added, "We're at a standstill and there'll be no growth this year. We'll be putting nothing into the development of the school buildings. Massive increases in salaries and national insurance have hit us hard and I've no confidence that things will improve next year. This could lead to redundancies, looking on the extreme side of things. It's like we're treading water and managing to just stay afloat." The Government said that, in dire circumstances, schools could draw on formula capital funding - which is given annually to schools for buildings works.

"But even if we wanted to, we couldn't because this has already been given to the council towards repairing boilers," said Mr Wayment. "We're taking a prudent approach to the situation but it's reaching a point where things are serious." The situation is little different at Chellaston School, Swarkestone Road, where head teacher Ray Ruszczynski feels let down by the Government. "As head teachers, our expectations have been raised massively by the Government, which promised more money but has proved itself to be politically inept," he said. Quite simply, there's no more money to do the things we need to do.Planning is essential to any business, especially when certain aspects of it need updating continually, such as computing. Without reserves or fresh cash, this becomes impossible."

In common with many schools, Chellaston also does not have the benefit of the £125,000 leadership incentive grant because it is a high-performing school. That amount of additional cash would transform the school and allow Mr Ruszczynski to employ four or five additional staff. "As it is, money is tight to even allow for training and development of our existing staff," he said. "Any thoughts of additional initiatives and developments at the school are having to be shelved at a time when our expectations of being able to do more were raised." Mr Ruszczynski warns that if the situation is not improved, he will be forced to look at staff levels, increasing class sizes and cutting back on resource spending.

Some schools have remained tight-lipped about their financial situations, preferring to tough it out and see what happens in the future. But the leading teaching unions in Derbyshire refuse to accept the situation lying down - especially with members' jobs at stake. Bill Greenshields, Derbyshire branch secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said, "Redundancy notices have been served in some county schools. Whether they have to be enforced remains to be seen. Many schools are teetering on a knife-edge regarding their futures." Continuing uncertainty and a shortage of money is not the best recipe for schools at the best of times, but particularly when the Government is looking to them to push through further reforms.

Carol Dibbs, head teacher at Lees Brook Community Sports College, Chaddesden, agreed to help illustrate the financial problems in education by disclosing her school's finances. She is the first to admit her school is not the worst-funded in the city and that it has the benefit of gaining extra cash that other schools do not receive. The school gains extra investment for being in Derby's Education Action Zone, an initiative set up to help drive up standards in inner city schools. The school also gains extra funds from having specialist sports status. But Mrs Dibbs says that without the benefit of this extra cash she, too, would find it even more difficult to balance her books and is all too aware of the problems facing schools less fortunate.

Her budget figures clearly show the increased money that the school has received this year. Its budget share has gone up from £2,828,482 last year to £3,192,979 this year - an increase of £364,497 or approximately 11.5%. But with an increased staffing expenditure of £502,857 this year, the increase is soon swallowed up and more besides. The money from the Standards Fund, which pays for a host of initiatives including literacy and numeracy, has decreased by almost £8,000. The carry forward from last year of £173,422, together with the sports college funding of £123,000, based on pupil numbers, has helped to save the situation. Mrs Dibbs has now been left with what she calls a standstill budget and little chance to take forward any rainy day or contingency money for next year.

At present, £30,000 has been set aside to carry forward, but she is not sure this will remain in the budget if anything unforeseen arises. She said, "We still face stiff choices including not appointing senior staff if anyone leaves. Instead we will look to appoint newly-qualified and cheaper teachers. Money for staff development is scarce, but we've been making more money from private lettings to offset costs. As things stand, 88.5% of our funding is spent on staff wages and an independent think tank estimates that any school which allocates more than 85% to staffing costs will encounter difficulties. We'll manage this year, but are concerned about the future because we'll not have the carry forward that we've come to rely on this year."

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