Warning over Solihull's "shrinking" school budgets

CUTS in funding have left education services “heading for an iceberg”, Solihull Council has been told.
A long-running row about the resources available to schools was reignited at a recent Full Council meeting, during which a number of teachers outlined the problems they were facing on a daily basis.
Local parents have been campaigning for months for the issue to be addressed and with calls for action intensifying, Solihull Green Party presented a motion calling on the local authority to acknowledge that the situation was “unsustainable”.
Claire Melia, a school governor and a member of Fair Funding for Solihull Schools, said that over the next five years real terms funding per child would fall by £180 every year.
“That translates into an average reduction of £50,000 per primary school per year,” said the mum-of-two. “How can this be good for any of us?
“We know that local headteachers will do everything in their power to minimise the impact of the funding shortfall, but without your support local school budgets will simply continue to shrink.”
Teacher Coleman Doyle suggested that money was so tight that each child was allocated one pencil for every half-term and teachers were having to buy old library books from charity shops.
“I’m in the frontline, I’m in the trenches, fighting for your children and your grandchildren,” he told councillors, struggling to contain his emotion.
“If you don’t believe it, go to a classroom and find out. Not for a day, not for a week, for a term, for a year. Find out.”
Councillor James Burn (Green, Chelmsley Wood) said: “I’m hearing from councillors that all is really well and that money is sufficient, everything’s wonderful...
“And I’m hearing from teachers, including my mother... that actually the situation is really, really bad. That things haven’t been addressed.
“The question is who to believe and quite frankly I’d rather believe the teachers doing the job.”
Coun Ken Meeson, the cabinet member for children, education and skills, said that the council had been campaigning for years for fairer funding for schools, but argued that proposals put forward by the Government earlier this year would help matters.
“For years we have had a situation where schools in well-funded areas have had millions more in their budgets than Solihull schools.
“Some schools are still sitting on millions of pounds in reserves, are able to pay their headteachers more than the Prime Minister and, in some cases, supply every child with an iPad.”