Daily roundup 30 January: School funding, fostering, and home schooling

Head teachers from 5,500 schools across England have signed a joint letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond warning of "chronic" funding shortages. The BBC reports that the heads are warning of budget gaps and unequal funding - saying schools would have an extra £5.5bn if they were funded at the same level as Hackney. The government has promised to move £1.3bn extra into school budgets, and a Department for Education spokeswoman said the heads' calculations were "thoroughly misleading".


Foster care agencies run for profit by private equity investors are pushing up the cost of placing vulnerable children with families, local authorities have warned. The Guardian reports that independent fostering agencies typically pay carers higher fees than local authorities and sometimes offer "golden handshakes" worth up to £3,000 to poach them from rival agencies. David Simmonds, vice-chair of the Local Government Association, said that if cash-constrained local authorities could pay carers more to retain them they would end up spending less overall.


Parents who home-school children in Wales will not have to put them on a compulsory register, despite calls for one to be created after a child died in 2011. The BBC reports that councils will instead have to create a database to identify children not on a school register under plans to revamp home education. Welsh Education Secretary Kirsty Williams is due to announce plans for a "comprehensive package of support" for home educators, including exams help.


UK Youth Parliament has commenced a year-long campaign to lower the voting age and a curriculum that prepares young people for life. The campaigns were chosen following last summer's Make Your Mark ballot and a subsequent vote by Members of Youth Parliament at the House of Commons Sitting in November.


Creative arts subjects are being cut back in many secondary schools in England, a survey by the BBC has found. The study, based on information provided by more than 1,200 schools, found that nine in every 10 said they had cut back on lesson time, staff or facilities in at least one creative arts subject. The government said increasing teaching of academic subjects is a priority - though not at the expense of arts.