18th February 2015 1:00
By Blue Tutors
The Conservative Party have revealed that they will not promise to shield education funding from inflation, meaning that the school education budget could be cut by up to 10 percent in real terms. So far the education budget has been protected, but the party has been forced to admit in the run up to the election that they will no longer shield the education budget from cuts. The IFS added to the controversy by highlighting the fact that schools will also be required to contribute more to teachers’ pensions, leading to a further drop in funding to be spent on pupils.
The association of school and college leaders has raised concern over the proposed cuts, saying that they would not be able to raise standards without the necessary resources. They pointed out that schools all over the country had already been contacting them with majors concerns about their budgets, before the announcement of further cuts came. It is estimated that the proposed plans would lead to a cut in education spending of £3.1 bn per year by 2020. Labour have pointed out that the plans will take education spending as a share of GDP to levels not seen since the 1930s.
Whilst it is not yet clear where in education the cuts will be made, it is feared that the pupil premium – funds given to schools to help the most disadvantaged students – will suffer. The school leaders’ union have said that further cuts were unmanageable, given that funding had already been ‘cut to the bone’. College leaders also expressed alarm, noting that whilst the Prime Minister mentioned some safe guards for schools, sixth form and further education colleges seemed to be particularly vulnerable. The Association of Colleges said that further cuts would leave thousands of 16-18 year olds vulnerable, and put increased pressure on services such as local government and police.