South Holland schools are missing out on funding

Education bosses say they will fight for more cash for our schools after figures showed our children get less than other parts of the country.

Data from the education technology firm Promethean show that school spending in Lincolnshire is £3,064 per head.

The highest spend is in Islington in London - at £8,105 per head - while all the top 50 local authority areas all get more than £4,000 per pupil.

The school-by-school breakdown shows even wider disparities in funding.

The Free Press has seen figures that show how a London school of a similar size to a primary in South Holland gets £1.7 million more per year by way of annual budget.

Coun Patricia Bradwell, executive member for children’s services, said she felt the situation had improved in recent years - but still thinks our area lags behind.

She said: “The overall funding provided to Lincolnshire schools is determined by the Government’s national funding formula, which takes a range of factors into account, such as pupil numbers, free school meals and deprivation levels. Since its introduction in 2018/19, we have seen an increase in the funding provided for education locally.

“However, although we welcome the additional money and recognise that it has improved our position compared to other areas, half of the other authorities still receive more than we do and we remain below the England average.

“For too long, rural schools have received less than their fair share of national funding. So, although the increase is a step in the right direction, we will continue to make representations to central government for fairer funding for all our local schools.”

The Department for Education says schools are funded according to a ‘complex pupil-led formula’ which factors in issues such as the ages of pupils, pupils’ additional needs, whether a school is especially remote, whether it is split across multiple sites and ‘much more’.
A spokesman said: “The premise is that it wouldn’t be fair to allocate a flat rate across all schools because clearly every school is different and every school’s population is different.”