Vox Pop: Should school funding be protected from cutbacks?
Friday, July 9, 2010
A recent Local Government Authority survey found almost a third of people support protecting money for schools.
YES - Steve Stewart, chief executive, Connexions, Coventry and Warwickshire
I think funding for schools should be ringfenced. However, schools have got to use the money to meet the new demands and pressures facing young people during this terrible financial climate. I would like to see schools investing more money into personal development programmes, which develop employability, skills and confidence among young people.
We also need high-quality alternative education programmes so that nobody gets excluded from school. If schools invested as much in young people's development as they do in their attainment then I would be happy for school funding to be ringfenced.
NO - David Wright, chief executive, Confederation of Heads of Young People's Services
Education in all its forms is important to support young people as they grow up to become successful citizens. Schools can't do this alone; informal learning and the role of youth support is vital in making this happen. What young people do in their own time and how they contribute to their communities, all help shape them as adults. In an ideal world there wouldn't be any cuts at all in education, but in the current climate, all parts of the sector need to look at what they provide and how they deliver it. Schools need to be in the mix and play their part in shaping these new ways of working.
YES - Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary, Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Funding for state schools should be ringfenced. The pressures on local authorities will be unprecedented, but passporting the money from government through to schools is vital because schools are the nation's future. It doesn't matter too much when a road is repaired or a park bench replaced. A child only gets one chance at school so we need to give every child the best opportunities possible. If a child leaves school without learning the skills they need, they are disadvantaged for life.
NO - Jasmine Ali, head of the Local Government Information Unit's Children's Services Network
The overall shape of the cuts is being determined at a national level but local decisions are more - not less - important. We must resist the warped logic of the "sacred cow" argument - the one that tells you that schools and health can be spared at a greater cost.
to just about every other service like children, housing and adult social care. The solution must be to make local decision-making more effective. Applying a "whole area" approach to public services can lead to better provision at less cost by eliminating overlap. This can benefit all citizens including, of course, the most vulnerable.