School funding: DfE says criticism is unfounded but fails to convince

Janet Downs's picture
 2

 On Monday, the School Cuts campaign issued revised figures claiming schools in England had lost £5.4bn in funding since 2015.  This was widely covered in the media.

 Schools Cuts had faced criticism from the UK Statistics Watchdog in January that the methodology behind its funding claims wasn’t ‘wholly clear’.  In response, School Cuts has changed the way it calculates the figures and has issued an explanatory technical note.

The Department for Education (DfE) is not happy with this week’s negative publicity.  In a press release, it said the ‘coverage’ of School Cuts’ figures had been ‘misleading’.

Being unhappy with the coverage could imply the DfE thought School Cuts’ claim could be upheld.  But this would be disingenuous.  The DfE says:

‘…the £5.4bn real terms shortfall that Schools Cuts (sic) present adds together their calculations in respect of three separate years (2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19), and presents it as a single total. This creates a figure which is much higher than the difference between schools’ current funding and what they received in 2015-16.

I’m no statistician, and couldn’t say whether the DfE’s defence is valid or not.  Perhaps UKSA should have another look.

The DfE said, ‘…funding has risen in cash terms every year since 2015’.   But ‘in cash terms’ is not the same as ‘in real terms’.    The DfE admitted schools face ‘budgetary challenges’.  Once these and inflation are taken into account, school funding isn’t increasing as this Hansard correction from March 2018 makes clear:

‘…overall real-terms funding per pupil is being maintained between 2017-18 and 2019-20.’

Perhaps the DfE should look at its own statistics.  These show the rise in school funding stalled post-2010.  Most of the much-hyped increase in spending since 2000 happened under Labour.  And the independent fact-checkers at Full Fact found school funding from 2017/18 to 2019/20 remains lower than in 2015.

The DfE’s defence of its school spending isn’t likely to convince schools struggling with cost pressures.  And it’s also not likely to convince the MPs of all parties who lined up to slam inadequate school funding earlier this month.

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Be notified by email of each new post.





Comments

John Mountford's picture
Wed, 27/03/2019 - 17:25

This state of affairs where one side, which is what it comes down to, is claiming one thing and the other the opposite is reminiscent of our whole political system in these troubling times. At what point is it legitimate to call what the DfE keeps flogging us, lies? It cannot be beyond possibility that someone can get to the bottom of this issue formally, as you suggest Janet. The question whether the DfE is recycling propaganda as fact is of more than passing interest. In the face of such consistently troubling accounts of the steps necessary in many, many schools to make the books balance, I know whose voice I believe is right in this debate. Maybe if ministers allowed all our schools to cook the books as so many MATs and others that commit fraud do with the direct support of these same ministers, we would not have the current situation unfolding. Actually I believe it is a good thing all schools can't get away with such behaviour or the nation would have to declare bankruptcy over night. Over to you in Whitehall!!


Janet Downs's picture
Wed, 03/04/2019 - 07:41

John - I've asked UKSA to look at the DfE's defence of the School Cuts figures.  


Add new comment

Already a member? Click here to log in before you comment. Or register with us.