Wandsworth Council’s Labour lead for education has labelled the Government’s promise of additional funding for schools as an “insult” and “too little too late”.

Education Secretary Justine Greening announced an additional £1.3 billion to the “core school budget” on July 17, stating the Government “believes that all children should have an education that unlocks their potential”.

She said “significant progress” had been made in the education system but it was to a “backdrop of unfair funding” which was “unfair, opaque and out of date”.

She said: “It will mean that the total schools budget will increase by £2.6 billion between this year and 2019-20, and per pupil funding will now be maintained in real terms for the remaining two years of the Spending Review period to 2019-20.”

Wandsworth Times:

Justine Greening announcing the funding in Parliament 

However, Councilor Jeremy Ambache said the promise of more money was “like applying ‘sticking-plaster’ too little too late and that funding cuts faced by schools in the next three years amount to a “whopping £6.9billion”.

More: Parents and pupils take to the streets to protest school funding cuts in Wandsworth

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He said: “Parents in Wandsworth have made their displeasure clear and have campaigned strongly against these cuts to schools.

“This was an issue that influenced a number of voters in the in the General Election. The Putney MP nearly lost her seat - her majority was down to below 2,000.

“This offer of £1.3billion from schools to arrive next year is an insult.

“It is all ‘recycled’ money from within the Department of Education. Some of the money has been taken that will reduce the provision of vital school grounds and sports facilities.

“We hope Ms Greening will think again and come up with a commensurate better offer to tackle the huge school funding gap.”

Regional Officer for London NUT Henry Fowler said the funding announcement amounted to “smoke and mirrors”.

He said: “Wandsworth is proud to be able to say that 95 per cent of our schools are judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

“Only through proper funding can our schools maintain these excellent standards.”

Fair for all?

Ms Greening confirmed the introduction next year of the ‘Fair Funding Formula’ as she announced the extra investment.

The new formula, which will result in school funding spread more equally across the UK, has been met with wide spread disapproval as some schools need more funding than others.

More: New 'fairer school funding' formulae may mean £6 million loss for Putney schools

The official Government projections show 61 out of 66 Wandsworth schools will experience a funding reduction of 1.84 per cent by 2019, which equates to around £2 million.

However, according to figures released by the NUT, Wandsworth schools could be set to “lose £15,612,273 by 2020” which they say is the equivalent of losing 419 teachers or £603 per pupil.

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