Mark Garnier MP has joined forces with his fellow Worcestershire MPs to press the case for fairer funding for Worcestershire Schools, presenting a letter to Michael Gove on the day that he announced a major review of school funding.
Mark welcomed the extra money Michael Gove had announced for primary school places, to repair school buildings as well as the decision to reform the national funding formula.
Mark said: "I have nothing but respect for all the teachers in Wyre Forest and Worcestershire who do an incredibly good job with limited resources. A school the size of Baxter College, if it were moved to Tower Hamlets in London, would receive an extra £3,000,000 a year to do exactly the same job. Of course there are local costs in London, but are they really that much more? I don't think so. That is why we are working together to ensure fairer funding for Worcestershire schools. Our kids deserve more."
The letter sets out the poor position of Worcestershire schools in relation to the national average but also in relation to neighbouring urban authority, saying
"As a result of the last Government's flawed funding formula, in 2011/12 Worcestershire, via the DSG Guaranteed Unit of Funding, is receiving £482 less per pupil than the national average (£4,601 versus £5,083). This is significantly less than neighbouring authorities such as Birmingham (£5.689), where each pupil receives nearly £1,100 more funding per pupil than pupils in Worcestershire, even though some of the schools in question are within a few miles of each other. We believe that this arrangement is unfair and fails to reflect accurately the needs of young people in Worcestershire. There are pockets of severe deprivation in the County, for instance, in the city of Worcester, in Wyre Forest and in Redditch there are areas that rank in the top five per cent most deprived wards in the entire country, yet these have not tended to receive the extra attention they need due to the broad brush approach of the last government's formula."
It concludes,
"We support a greater emphasis on a basic per pupil funding entitlement for all pupils based upon a clear assessment of need and any move to break down the sharp disparities in funding that currently exist. Most importantly we support a clear and simple formula that gives clarity for schools in their planning and a fair allocation of resources."
"We all agree that we have to go further in order to rectify the deep-rooted problems in the national funding system so that disadvantaged pupils are not left behind and, representing parts of a county that has suffered for too long from unfair funding, we urge you to act swiftly to deliver these reforms."
The letter was signed by Mark, Robin Walker, MP for Worcester, Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire, Sajid Javid, MP for Bromsgrove, Peter Luff, MP for Mid Worcestershire, Karen Lumley, MP for Redditch. It was then hand delivered it to Mr Gove's office in the Commons.
Mark has made the reform of the funding formula one of his priorities in Wyre Forest, Worcestershire, and Westminster. In February he spoke in a debate about funding for schools in Worcestershire in which he said that the county has "hidden pockets of financial need" and an "appalling low educational grant". In October last year he also called a debate on the state of school funding in Wyre Forest following the cancellation of Building Schools for the Future (BSF).