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Labour warns schools face spending cuts Burnham attacks on school funding and lack of options
(about 6 hours later)
Labour is set to accuse the government of breaking a promise not to cut school funding in England. Labour's Andy Burnham has accused the government of narrowing choice and cutting budgets for schools in England.
Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham will tell the NASUWT teachers' union that budgets will be cut by 1.1% in real terms between 2010/11 and 2014/15. Speaking at the NASUWT teachers' union conference, Mr Burnham said the arrival of the English Baccalaureate would narrow children's options.
Per-pupil funding will fall by 3.9% in the same period, he will tell the teachers' conference in Glasgow. He also told delegates that schools would face falling budgets for the next three years, despite funding promises.
A Department for Education spokesman said it was protecting school funding at "flat cash per pupil".A Department for Education spokesman said it was protecting school funding at "flat cash per pupil".
At the conference, Mr Burnham will tell delegates analysis based on figures from the House of Commons library show the government's education policy "consists of broken promises, incompetence and wrong-headed reforms". Mr Burnham, the shadow education secretary, told the NASUWT conference in Glasgow that budgets will be cut by 1.1% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2014-15.
"They said they had found more resources for schools - but the schools budget is going to fall every year for the next three years. This is alongside cuts of 80% to budgets for maintenance and repairs next year. Per-pupil funding will fall by 3.9% in the same period, he told delegates.
"Increasingly, we are seeing the sort of poor decision-making and lack of clarity from central government that can only be called incompetence - like the last-minute cut of £155m from school budgets. "We are seeing the sort of poor decision-making and lack of clarity from central government that can only be called incompetence - like the last-minute cut of £155m from school budgets," said Mr Burnham.
"This will mean schools losing money they have already been allocated in the middle of an academic year - or facing an even tighter financial settlement next year," he will say. "This will mean schools losing money they have already been allocated in the middle of an academic year - or facing an even tighter financial settlement next year."
Mr Burnham also attacked plans for the English Baccalaureate - or English Bacc - which will see schools ranked by how many pupils achieve a good GCSE in English, maths, two sciences, a language and history or geography.
He said that it would restrict what pupils could study, would harm pupils who wanted to take creative subjects such as music and art and would put at risk the jobs of teachers who taught subjects outside of the English Bacc.
The coalition's interventions on schools showed that they were more centralising than Labour, claimed Mr Burnham.
ConsultationConsultation
In his spending review statement last year, Chancellor George Osborne said there would be a "real increase in the money for schools, not just next year or the year after - as the last government once promised - but for each of the next four years". A Department for Education spokesman defended the government's spending on schools.
"The schools budget will rise from £35bn to £39bn," he said at the time. "We are protecting school funding in the system at flat cash per pupil before adding the pupil premium.
Responding to Labour's claims, a Department for Education spokesman said: "We are protecting school funding in the system at flat cash per pupil before adding the pupil premium.
"Flat cash per pupil means that, as pupil numbers go up, the overall budget goes up in line."Flat cash per pupil means that, as pupil numbers go up, the overall budget goes up in line.
"We are putting money directly in heads' hands and cutting central bureaucracy to protect the front line."We are putting money directly in heads' hands and cutting central bureaucracy to protect the front line.
"The current school funding system is illogical, unfair and opaque. That is why we recently launched a consultation to address the disparities and inequalities within our current system.""The current school funding system is illogical, unfair and opaque. That is why we recently launched a consultation to address the disparities and inequalities within our current system."