Kevin Hollinrake MP has welcomed the Government announcement that they will make significant reforms to school funding, which will mean that, overall, schools in Thirsk and Malton are better off by nearly £1.5 million per annum whilst North Yorkshire as a whole is almost £7 million better off per annum.
The proposals, announced by the Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening MP, are designed to ensure that schools and students are funded according to their needs, resulting in a fairer deal for rural schools. It means that North Yorkshire County Council goes up from 89th to 82nd out of 150 local authorities in the national funding league table.
Some of the schools receiving more funding are; Easingwold Secondary School (£59,000), Thirsk School & Sixth Form College (£22,000), Lady Lumley’s School (£52,000) and Norton College (£13,000).
Mr. Hollinrake said, “I made a campaign commitment to seek a fairer deal for rural areas and am grateful to my many colleagues who were also involved in this fairer funding campaign. The new formula will mean that schools receive funding according to their needs and not according to where they live. Before this change, schools in urban areas were generally receiving more money per student, in some cases as much as 50% more.
The Government has protected the core schools budget in real terms since 2010, but it is right that the outdated system of distribution of funds is reviewed. Overall, most schools in North Yorkshire, will receive more, which is good news. For those few who will receive slightly less funding, there will be a transitional period to give them time to adapt to the new formula. There is no doubt, this is a much fairer system”.
The news follows on from an earlier success for rural areas when Mr. Hollinrake and his colleagues campaigned for, and secured, an extra £17m for local North Yorkshire councils and a government commitment to review the underlying local government funding formula.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/schools-national-funding-formula-stage-2