Special need on a budget
Apparently Councils in England have overspent on their budget, by £324 million according to an FOI request by the BBC. Of the 136 local authorities, 123 have overspent on their high needs budget for young children and adults with special needs. The government have decided that they are going to provide more money by saying that they would raise an extra £250m to ease pressures.
To campaign for this, back in October 2018, a group of 60 children and parents attended a cross-party panel of MPs in Westminster, which was organised by a parent group Save Our Schools UK (SOS), alongside other parent groups. Children as young as five from across England visited Parliament to tell and sing their stories about the impact of harmful budget cuts on their ability to learn and to be supported in school.
The children spoke about learning in crumbling school buildings, out-of-date science textbooks, and broken computers with limited Internet connection, amongst reduced school budgets. Some schools have even reported to cut back on staff and ask for parental donations, or help with gardening or plumbing issues! However, A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We want every child to have a high quality education and since 2010 the proportion of pupils in good or outstanding schools has risen.
How does this compare to the school you go to, or are a parent of a child at school?
By Rosina Cotton, Carew Academy.
