Veteran Tory MP warns Theresa May a revolt will defeat her drastic school funding cuts-Dan Bloom

The Prime Minister is facing a blockade by her own MPs over plans to slash thousands of schools' cash funding by 3%

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A delegation of angry Tory MPs has met Theresa May - and they're the 'tip of the iceberg' (Photo: Getty Images Europe)

 

A veteran Tory MP has warned Theresa May he and his colleagues will revolt to defeat her drastic school funding cuts.
The Prime Minister is facing a blockade by her own MPs over plans to slash thousands of schools' cash funding by 3%.
George Osborne has joined the brewing rebellion as research shows the average secondary will lose £291,000 in real terms - having to cut six teachers by 2020.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown - an MP for 25 years - led a delegation of nine Tories to see the Prime Minister about a consultation on the move that closes next week.

Speaking today, he warned the nine MPs were the "tip of the iceberg".

Educating Yorkshire's Thornhill Academy could face losing 20 staff (Photo: Gary Calton)

"I think ministers recognise, and indeed I told (Education Secretary) Justine Greening in a later meeting, that this wouldn't go through in its present form," he told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.
Mr Clifton-Brown said the Government would lose a vote in the Commons on the plans in their current form.
He added: "This is only a consultation.

"The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education have indicated very strongly that they are listening to the consultation, they will listen to what responses they get back.
"And I think knowing that they will have difficulty getting it through the House, they will have to alter it."

Secondary and primary schools are both hit, analysis by a think tank says (Photo: The Image Bank)

Conservative MP Stephen Hammond said he was "very concerned" at the move last night.
Colleague Antoinette Sandbach added: "It doesn't seem to have addressed the fundamental inequalities in the previous formula.
"So I would say this fails in its job and it has to be looked at again."

Former Chancellor George Osborne revealed he had met the Education Secretary to warn of "teachers' concerns".
He added: "Everyone knows we need a new formula and that there isn't extra money lying around, but the money needs to be fairly distributed."
The government says its changes will stop inequalities, where schools with similar numbers of children receive different levels of cash per-pupil.

George Osborne has also joined the concerns over school cuts

He said: "The money needs to be fairly distributed" (Photo: PA)

But critics and analysts say this will move cash away from deprived inner-city schools to better-off areas.
A report today by the Education Policy Institute says: “The overall impact of redistributing the schools budget results in shifting funding away from the most disadvantaged pupils towards the ‘just about managing’ group.”
Cash cuts for each school under the formula have been capped at a "floor" of 3%. More than 5,000 schools are expected to be on this floor.
But the think tank says the cuts in real terms - once inflation is included - will be 6% to 11% by 2019-20.
Its research said this amounts to an average loss of £74,000 per primary and £291,000 per secondary school.

How badly off could our schools be?

Why are schools losing money? School budgets are failing to keep pace with inflation, meaning rising prices outstrip the amount of cash they have to spend. A new funding formals will also see some schools robbed of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Where can I find out more? The SchoolCuts.org.uk website provides a calculator setting out how badly each school could be clobbered. The Government has also set up a website where users can discover the potential impact of the new formula.
Mirror