Fiona
Bruce to present Fair School Funding Petition to Parliament
Within the
coming week Fiona Bruce MP will present a petition of 500 signatures from
Congleton residents requesting Fairer Funding for areas of England like
Cheshire East.
The petition,
which will be presented to the Speaker of the House of Commons “declares that
the petitioners believe the existing school funding model in England is
arbitrary and unfair, further declares that the ten best funded areas of
England have on average received grants of £6300 per pupil this year, compared
to an average of £4200 per pupil in the ten most poorly funded areas of England
and request the earliest possible introduction of a new National Funding
Formula for schools in England.”
Fiona Bruce said “This
petition is part of an ongoing campaign which I, and other MPs representing
constituencies where education is inadequately funded, have conducted to
challenge and press the Government to address this unfairness and improve the
funds which our local schools have to provide for a wide range of subjects,
good resources, well
maintained buildings, reasonably sized classes and excellent pastoral support.”
Fiona Bruce continued: “I
am in no doubt that the Chancellor has heard our concerns, not only as a result
of the support from local residents for this petition but also from the strong
engagement in this campaign from Headteachers like many across my constituency
and with this petition about to be presented in Parliament within the next few
days I, and other MPs, am asking the Chancellor to take action in this week’s
spending review”
1. The F40 campaign represents a group of
the lowest funded education authorities in England where government-set cash
allocations for primary and secondary pupils are the lowest in the
country. As the gap between the ‘haves’
and the ‘have nots’ remains and in some cases continues to widen, F40 is
campaigning to change the way the government allocates funding to local
authorities and schools.
2. The F40 campaign has support from MPs,
councillors, education directors, governors, head teachers and parents.
Teaching unions including the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL)
and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) both support a new
national funding formula.
3. F40’s proposals would deliver fairness
to areas which have been underfunded for far too long.
