Collective pressure works.
The Government has announced it will fully-fund teacher pay this year, reversing a previous decision to leave a £460 million black hole in school budgets.
This U-turn is due to thousands of educators and NEU members lobbying MPs, organising in our schools and campaigning against school cuts.
It’s an acknowledgement from the new Government that schools are on the brink.
The £460 million schools were expected to find in order to partially-fund the pay award would have been devastating for many schools reeling from 16 years of brutal cuts.
This is a win for our movement, but there is still so much to do to restore school funding. For this Government, this decision must be the beginning of a reckoning with the impact of years of cut after cut.
Two weeks into term, educators are already facing crammed classrooms and leaking roofs. Buying supplies from their own pockets. Covering the workload of lost support staff who schools can’t afford to replace.
Since 2010, schools in England have faced £4.5 billion in real-terms cuts to education funding.
Our latest School Cuts data reveal the dire picture of our schools:
- 74% of schools in England have less funding in real terms than in 2010
- 1 million children are in class sizes of over 30
- 1,323 schools have cuts of over £1 million
- In 36 constituencies, every school has less funding in real terms
The stories behind these numbers are even bleaker: educators burnt out and working into the night, children learning under crumbling ceilings, a whole generation who have known nothing but cuts to education.
The full restoration of education funding must begin now.
Whether you’ve been fighting cuts since they started or you’ve been feeling powerless and want to take action for the first time, the Stop School Cuts community will support you to stand up for our schools:
- Order materials and start leafleting in your school community
- Get in touch at [email protected] to share how cuts have impacted your community
- Write to your MP and share what they say
Will you join the movement to fully restore school funding?
This announcement is the beginning. Together, we will make sure that every penny of lost school funding is restored.