Government’s cuts to education budget shows Tory reform just doesn’t add up

“We stand to lose up to £100,000 from the school budget,” says Bernadette Hunter, a Staffordshire head teacher for 22 years.

“I hardly know what to say. It’s devastating for our school. Not disappointing, devastating.”

As the NHS crisis deepens, teachers are warning of an oncoming funding crisis in Britain’s schools.

Suffering from the triple blow of £3billion in real-term education cuts, rising student numbers and the botched delivery of a new funding formula , some schools stand to lose up to £1million.

As heads struggle with the news that the education budget has gone down instead of up for the first time since the 1990s, Meg Hillier MP , Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, has warned schools now face a bigger funding crisis than the NHS.

Meanwhile, teaching union the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) says schools are being pushed “beyond breaking point”.

The Government claims its controversial reforms are aimed at making funding fairer. But most of the biggest losers are in traditional Labour areas – the more deprived parts of big cities like London and Manchester.

The Bridge Academy in Hackney could lose almost £1m by 2019 – a staggering 21 teachers or £1,000 per pupil – after receiving their best ever set of exam results this year.