Teachers made redundant,bigger course sizes, subjects dropped and mental health support lost – yet the government claims education budget is protectedThe government has frequently repeated its commitment to protecting funding for schools and to improving the life chances of disadvantaged pupils. So one headteacher in a deprived allotment of the country was shocked, and a fortnight ago,to find a 250000 gap in her budget.
After some frantic digging, Jane Gardiner (not her real name) discovered that the shortfall was the result of changes to funding tied to the English Indices of Deprivation [pdf], and which plot the poorest neighbourhoods in the country. These were updated in September last year. Based on the indices,additional money is paid by local authorities to schools for the pupils who live in the poorest postcodes. This is in addition to the pupil premium, which comes from central government.
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Source: theguardian.com