Bradford & District | Archive | 2005 | July | 12
From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Tuesday 12th Jul 2005.
Education chiefs say they need £3.2 million to get the district's schools up to scratch - more than double the sum set aside by Bradford Council.
The council has allocated an extra £1 million core funding for schools and a further £500,000 to help deliver recommendations in a report by Government schools watchdog Ofsted.
But a sub-group of the Schools Forum, made up of heads, council officers and Education Bradford representatives, said it ideally wants £3.2 million.
Bradford Council and Education Bradford are being forced to draw up an action plan after the Ofsted inspection, which found that schools' performance was satisfactory but standards needed improving.
The watchdog said the education authority did not have the funding available to deliver the necessary improvements.
The Schools Forum's sub group claims £3.2 million is needed "to meet the costs of addressing enhancements to the contract and thereby to services to support schools and children."
But councillors gave a breakdown of how to spend the extra £1 million at a meeting of the Education Improvement Committee.
The proposed bill included £500,000 for behavioural support in pupil referral units; £75,000 for support for those learning English as an additional language and £75,000 for school self-evaluation including specific training for governors.
Education Improvement Committee chairman councillor Phil Thornton said: "This is one-off extra money for one year, given on the back of the Ofsted plan. We were annoyed we got presented with the request to spend £1.5 million on the day of the meeting.
"There was no detail about where the needs are and no real detail about how the money would be spent, so we rejected it and told the sub group to come back to the next meeting with detailed proposals - not just a one-page note.
"We cannot be expected to make detailed decisions about council tax payers' money on the back of a fag packet."
Councillor Thornton said the committee was also concerned about the £3.2 million wish list.
"We have to consider if it's the right use of these resources but we were only given minimal information," he said.
The secretary of the Bradford branch of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Ian Murch, said: "I am surprised at a proposal as flimsy as this. The scrutiny committee was offended and I am offended because it's just a set of neat figures. How do you know you have to spend £150,000 on self evaluation?
"The scrutiny committee said they needed more details and I don't blame them."
© Newsquest Media Group 2008