School funding is not as complex as international relations in the 19th century, but with a national schools funding formula now expected to be in the education white paper, there are still few who have a really detailed grasp. That's really not surprising, as the intention in 1988 was to devise formulae that replicated previous arrangements. Since then the national rules have evolved, and local authority formulae have been tweaked to fit the new rules, or sometimes to find a way round them. There is no easy way of working out what the impact of a proposed change will be.
The combined effect of variations between the overall funding for different local authorities and those caused by local formulae can cause major friction on borders. The secondary school of which I am a governor has calculated that, were it located 200 metres north, it would receive around an extra £200,000 per year.
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