The party's manifesto will include a 'Robin Hood-style' tax raid on independent schools, estimated to raise an extra £1.3-1.5bn for the state sector
The party's manifesto will include a 'Robin Hood-style' tax raid on independent schools, estimated to raise an extra £1.3-1.5bn for the state sector
He said: “Because of the fiscal rules and the rules they’ve signed up to – and the deficit going forward – it will be hard to find that much extra money for schools.”The Tories committed to pegging school funding to the current per pupil funding arrangement. However, pupil numbers are set to fall by 400,000 in the next parliamentary term, according to projections from the Department for Education , leading to an overall cut in funding.
It remains to be seen how Labour decides to “increase all levels of public spending” in its manifesto, but the IFS analyst said that the “fiscal rules they’ve signed up to are heavily constraining”. “As well as considering the overall level of funding, any government needs to consider how it is targeting that money to help address the long-standing attainment gap between low-income pupils and their peers which grew significantly worse over the course of the pandemic.”Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union , said the idea education could endure more cuts – let alone the £3.5bn outlined in the Tory manifesto – is “preposterous”.
“Even with a declining birth rate, that level of cuts in education would mean widescale school closures in which classes were merged.Julia Harnden, funding specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said many schools are already struggling financially and cannot sustain more cuts due to falling pupil numbers.
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