Gloucestershire Schools Forum in plea for extra funding for high-need pupils

Education leaders want to see an extra £523,000 going into high-needs education for children and young adults this year.

Gloucestershire Schools Forum advises Gloucestershire County Council on school funding decisions.

Forum members called for a 2% increase in the top-up fund instead of a recommended budget freeze.

The authority will make the final decision as the forum sits outside of council committee structures.

The high needs education fund supports teaching from early years up to 25 years old, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

During the online meeting on Thursday, children's services director Chris Spencer said it was a tricky situation and they were not unsympathetic to the schools forum's case.

In 2020-21 the county council set a deficit budget of £5,449,200, improving on this position by £330,000 in the year which led to a final overspend of £5,119,200.

The council had proposed a high needs deficit of £3,570,000 for the current financial year.

To help achieve that they suggested top-up funding remained frozen at the current levels.

Chair of governors at Bettridge School, Becky Martin said: "I'm also a parent of two profoundly disabled children in the special school system and this is not my plan.

"Top-up funding and base funding has remained static for several years."

Sands Academy Trust chief executive officer Lyn Dance said schools were being asked to cope with much more complex children without an increase in funding.

"It seems morally wrong to me," she said.

"There's a big number of children who need a special school place and there aren't any available.

"So those mainstream schools are dealing with children who really should be in the special schools and they are not getting that extra support that they deserve and need."

Education strategy and development head Philip Haslet said the deficit was a situation affecting many local authorities across the country.

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