Protecting schools from cuts will not come cheap, says Luke Sibieta, so the political parties must be clear on how they will fund their manifesto promises
Schools in England currently face two main funding challenges: squeezes on overall funding levels and a changing allocation across schools. What would it cost to ease these pressures?
English schools are part way through their first real-term cuts to spending per pupil since the mid-1990s. Plans imply spending per pupil falling by 6.5 per cent between 2015–16 and 2019–20 after accounting for general inflation, or by 8 per cent if you account for the rising costs that schools have faced in recent years (such as employer pension contributions and national insurance).
Authors
Research Fellow
Luke is a Research Fellow at the IFS and his general research interests include education policy, political economy and poverty and inequality.
Comment details
- Publisher
- Schools Week
Suggested citation
Sibieta, L. (2017). What would it cost to maintain current school spending levels? [Comment] Schools Week. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/articles/what-would-it-cost-maintain-current-school-spending-levels (accessed: 2 May 2024).
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