Sheffield MP hits out at 'appalling' planned cuts to school budgets

A Sheffield MP has hit out at 'appalling' planned cuts to school budgets in her area.
Gill Furniss, MP for Brightside & Hillsborough. Picture: Andrew Roe/The StarGill Furniss, MP for Brightside & Hillsborough. Picture: Andrew Roe/The Star
Gill Furniss, MP for Brightside & Hillsborough. Picture: Andrew Roe/The Star

A Sheffield MP has hit out at 'appalling' planned cuts to school budgets in her area.

Gill Furniss, MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, said 97 per cent of schools in her constituency will see an average of £105,000 slashed from each school's budget

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The MP also said teachers are 'having to crowd fund for essential resources'.

Figures from the National Union on Teachers shows the number equates to around a £221 cut per pupil.

Ms Furniss's constituency covers areas such as Hillsborough, Shiregreen, Southey, Parson Cross, Firth Park and Burngreave.

Nationally schools have already had their budgets cut by £2.8 billion over the last two years and figures show Sheffield's budget is set to be cut by a further £27m.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A further £8.9 billion of cuts are on the horizon for schools if the Conservative Party carries through their manifesto commitments, according to Ms Furniss.

Speaking in Parliament, Ms Furniss said: "During the course of the election campaign, I spoke with and listened to heads, teachers and parents who raised concerns about the pressure schools are facing. Already we know that school class sizes are increasing, subjects are being dropped from the curriculum and teachers are having to crowd fund for essential resources – this is an appalling state of affairs for our schools to be in.

"If we want an excellent education for our children and young people, it is vital that our schools are properly funded. The Government’s current proposals mean that 97 per cent of schools in Brightside and Hillsborough will face funding cuts – this will be detrimental to the education of our children and young people in the community.

"I have signed a new petition to the Government saying they need to stop the cuts to our children’s education. I would encourage all of my constituents to sign up too."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A DfE spokesman said school funding was at its highest level on record, at more than £40bn in 2016-17.

He added: "But the system for distributing that funding across the country is unfair, opaque and outdated.

“We are going to end the historic post code lottery in school funding and under the proposed national schools funding formula, more than half of England’s schools will receive a cash boost."

The petition can be signed here