Monday 23 November 2015

Back the campaign for fairer funding of Northumberland's schools - sign our petition

I am one of several MPs who represent under-funded areas which receive low per pupil funding.

For many decades our local schools have been in the bottom 10% for funding in the entire country, due to the historic schools funding formula. In the last Parliament, I campaigned hard for a solution to ensure that our local schools are funded properly and fairly.
We are expecting a government consultation on the issue early next year - so support now is crucial.

For generations pupils and schools in local authority areas such as Northumberland have been the poor relation of places like Newcastle in terms of education funding. Basic yearly funding for schools in Newcastle amounts to £4,709 per pupil, while in Northumberland it is just £4,244 per pupil. In other areas across the country we lose over a thousand pounds per pupil.

Our children deserve a fair funding settlement, so they can gain the skills they need to get on in life. Following our 2010-15 campaign, we secured a £12m funding up lift to the fairer funding formula for our schools in Northumberland. That additional £12 million funding was, however, simply a down-payment, or a first step towards a new and fairer funding system for our schools. What I am continuing to fight for is a revised and long term fairer national funding formula, to replace the existing arrangements. That is why I now need local people to demonstrate their support. I urge local people to sign the petition online by clicking HERE.

I work with the cross party f40 group in Parliament, which campaigns on behalf of the lowest funded Education Authorities and has been fighting for a fairer deal since the 1990s. Northumberand County Council also officially backs the campaign.

The f40 is a cross party campaign on behalf of the lowest funded Education Authorities which has been campaigning for a fairer deal since the 1990s.