Rushcliffe Liberal Democrats

Lib Dems will invest £7bn in schools to protect funding per pupil

The Liberal Democrats have announced they will invest nearly £7bn more in schools and colleges over the next parliament.

The funding would reverse cuts to frontline school and college budgets, protect per pupil funding in real terms and ensure no school loses out from the National Funding Formula.

The impact of projected Tory government school funding cuts will see Rushcliffe schools facing budget cuts of up to 23%. With the worst affected schools losing as much as £1,247 per pupil per year.

Jayne Phoenix, parliamentary candidate for Rushcliffe, said:

"Parents in Rushcliffe care greatly about the quality of the education their children receive and are, rightly, proud of the excellent schools we have in this area. This Conservative government are planning sweeping cuts that will significant undermine the work our schools do and damage the education our children receive.

Parents and grandparents, who are worried about the impact of education funding cuts on their children's school, should vote Liberal Democrat, to ensure our schools get the funding they need."

Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Secretary Sarah Olney said:

"Children are being taught in overcrowded classes by overworked teachers - but Theresa May doesn't care.

"While funding per pupil is set to see the biggest cuts in a generation, billions of pounds are being spent on divisive plans to expand grammars and free schools.

"This extra £7 billion of funding would ensure no school and no child loses out.

"We will reverse crippling Conservative cuts to school budgets and invest to ensure every child has the opportunity to succeed."

Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron said:

"A landslide for the Conservatives would allow Theresa May to take parents across the country for granted and cut our schools to the bone.

"Only the Liberal Democrats can provide the strong opposition Britain needs to stand up for your community.

"Vote for the Liberal Democrats and you can change Britain's future."



References

The Liberal Democrats will invest £6.9bn more in our schools and colleges over the next parliament, to ensure no school and no child loses out. This goes further than Labour's commitment to reverse £3bn of cuts to school budgets by 2020.

Over the course of the parliament, we will:

• Protect per pupil funding in real terms in schools (£3.3bn)
• Protect further education per pupil funding in real terms (£660m)
• Ensure no school loses out from the National Funding Formula (£1.26bn)
• Protect the pupil premium in real terms (£415m)
• Invest in continuous professional development for teachers (£165m)

The £6.9bn includes £1.1bn of Barnett consequentials for devolved nations. Full costings per year are included in the table below.

These plans will be fully costed in the Liberal Democrat manifesto, which will be launched in due course and set all our spending plans out in more detail. This will include reversing the Government's proposed funding for new grammar schools.

A report by the National Audit Office has found school budgets will be slashed by £3bn in real terms by 2019-20 - the equivalent to reducing spending by 8 per cent per pupil, under current government plans (link)

The NAO has also estimated that up to 60 per cent of existing school buildings are in urgent need of repair and it is estimated that it would cost £6.7bn to return all school buildings to satisfactory or better condition (link).

Rushcliffe schools will see budgets cut by up to 23%. This example is the proposed funding drop for South Nottinghamshire Academy, Radcliffe. Source: www.schoolcuts.org.uk (link)