New schools funding formula agreed
By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter
Powys County Council’s (PCC) Cabinet unanimously passed the new formula on Tuesday which will come into force in April.
The formula is supposed to provide the “minimum sustainable core provision” of funding for school pupils. Next year, PCC schools will receive over £70 million. The Funding Review Group (FRG) say that the minimum figure should be £5.5 million higher.
Following significant tweaks by education officers they agreed to a minimum that is still nearly £1 million higher than the budget.
Educational portfolio holder, Cllr Myfanwy Alexander, said: “There are schools that feel unfairly treated and this formula will provide transparency. By providing the cost at a minimum level provides us with a mature debate about the funding of schools.
“If Welsh Government were to ask us to provide more, we would be able to provide this; if there are additional requests there would need to be a change of funding.
“We have an absolute responsibility to use public money with caution and to apply due diligence to any budget that comes in front of us.
“I believe this funding formula will provide a useful tool to school governors so that they can aspire, lead and challenge management teams to use the funding appropriately.
“That may mean at times having difficult discussions about curriculum offer or staffing structures but these are discussions that we have to have if schools are to live within their means.
“Our school performance is broadly good; our exam performance is only second to the Vale of Glamorgan in the whole of Wales. We are talking about how to resource an already excellent education system.”
Of the list of 92 schools in Powys, 25 will now see a worse funding settlement.
To make sure no school goes over a financial cliff edge, the new formula will see a two-year transition period.
Director of Education, Ian Budd, said: “It’s entirely appropriate and necessary that we have a transitional arrangement for two years so that those children that have embarked on examination courses in Years 10 and 11 have the resources to see those courses through.”
PCC on average spend £6,456 per pupil – which is the highest figure in Wales.
Cllr Alexander added: “A lot has been said that we under fund our schools. We fund our schools £209 more per pupil than Ceredigion, £375 more than Gwynedd, £1,349 more than the Vale of Glamorgan, £655 more than Anglesey, £883 more than Carmarthen.”
One of the reasons behind the change is that the old formula had not been maintained properly and was deemed illegal.
If it had been kept, financial predictions for the next three years showed that all secondary schools and many primary schools would go into the red.
In June 2018, the Cabinet was forced to agree deficit budgets for schools in the red.
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