The Government is currently reviewing the mechanism used for dishing out money to local authorities and is expected to publish a discussion paper early this summer containing proposals for adjustments to the spending shareout.

In the meantime, the new forum is drawing up an action plan and preparing to present its case to MPs at a special meeting in London on March 16.

The forum, chaired by Gloucestershire County Council education chair Peter Clarke, has elected an executive committee involving representatives from local authorities, parents, governors and teaching unions.

They will highlight the present inequalities in Government-set spending allocations which have created funding gulfs between authorities. For example, in 2000/2001:

* Hertfordshire will receive £2,474.15 per primary-age pupil - £284 more than South Gloucestershire's £2,189.83.

* An average-size secondary school in East Sussex could be at least £300,000 better off than its counterpart in Bath and North East Somerset because of the extra £336 it receives per secondary-age pupil.

Forum chair Councillor Peter Clarke said: "We believe that any new education funding system should be more focused on pupil numbers to recognise the needs of all councils - no matter where their location.

"We accept that there will be the need for some "add-ons", but these should be limited to social deprivation, rural weighting and London weighting.

"We also believe there should be a nationally-set minimum level of funding for every pupil to avoid the huge discrepancies thrown up by the present system. Currently, the 40 worst-funded education authorities all fall significantly below the average pupil funding levels for their type of council.

"The authorities who have signed up to the forum represent around 16 million people in areas served by 200 MPs - nearly a third of our parliament. We hope everyone concerned will acknowledge the need to change a system which at present is shortchanging millions of school children up and down the country."

NOTE TO NEWS EDITORS: Members of the Forum for Fair Education Funding are Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Leicestershire, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Bury, Dudley, North Tyneside, Solihull, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wakefield, Wigan, Bath and North East Somerset, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Somerset, Poole, Rutland, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, Warrington, West Berkshire, Wokingham, York.

Source:- Internet Information

Town halls 'holding back school budgets'
BY JOHN O'LEARY, EDUCATION EDITOR THE TIMES

MINISTERS have been accused by a right-wing think tank of covering up an increase in the amount of money which is intended for schools but is siphoned off by local authorities.

Government figures have shown local authorities passing on steadily increasing amounts to schools but a report by Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, claims that the authorities are actually holding back a higher proportion of money from schools. The report, published by the Centre for Policy Studies, accuses David Blunkett, the Education Secretary, of presenting spending data so as to disguise the sums withheld by local authorities. Mr Seaton argues that there are no “real pressures” on councillors to limit their spending on bureaucracy.

Using different assumptions about spending categories to those adopted by the Department for Education, Mr Seaton estimates that 27 per cent of the central funding intended for schools will remain with local authorities this year. Only 12 of the 150 authorities will meet the Government’s target of delegating 80 per cent of the money to schools, he claims.

Mr Seaton said: “The complex and confusing system currently in place needs radical reform. Only by severely curtailing the role of local education authorities or, best of all, replacing the current funding system with a far more transparent one in which money follows the pupil and goes straight to the school, can we ensure that pupils get the funding that is due to them.”

Ministers and local authorities insist that Mr Seaton has misunderstood the system. The Department for Education said: “We reject these figures — they are plain wrong. There is a greater proportion of a much bigger schools budget being delegated to schools this year than in 1997.” The spokesman said that barely a tenth of the £3.4 million retained by authorities this year would be spent on administration. The rest would go on essential services such as school transport and provision for special educational needs. “The Secretary of State has set a ceiling on administrative spending of £65 per pupil (£75 in London). All LEAs have met this target and it will be lowered again next year.”

Graham Lane, who chairs the education committee of the Local Government Association, said: “This is a bogus set of figures designed to justify a voucher system, which would leave most schools worse off.”

The row is likely to continue,because head teachers are campaigning for a national funding formula, which would further reduce the role of local authorities.