Consultation on School Funding Arrangements for Shropshire Schools from April 2015 Meeting for Headteachers and Governors Lord Hill Hotel, Shrewsbury 2 October

Background Significant reforms to local school funding formula since Government’s recently acknowledged current national schools funding system is unfair and out-of-date Government’s aim to move to a National Fair Funding Formula in next parliamentary term 2

Changes from April 2015 Following consultation, Government announced, in July 2014, £390m of additional Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Allocated to lowest funded local authorities from April 2015 Shropshire will receive an additional £297 per pupil from April

Changes from April 2015 Based on October 2013 census data this equates to £10.37m – a 7.2% increase to the schools block element of the DSG Actual additional allocation will be based on October 2014 census data 4

Changes from April 2015 Additional funding delegated to schools must be through the local funding formula Allowable factors include: 5 Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) Lump Sum Sparsity Free School Meals Low prior attainment Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) Split Site Rates

Context Pupil numbers in Shropshire bucking national trend of demographic growth Projected decline in pupil numbers is not evenly spread across Shropshire DSG is based mainly on pupil numbers and so a fall in pupil numbers will reduce the funding for schools in coming years 6

Steer from the Administration The Administration of Shropshire Council is determined to encourage collaborative working, consideration of alternative models of education provision and the more efficient use of delegated resources. It believes school governing bodies need to be challenged to address these issues and to ensure that the Shropshire school funding formula promotes more sustainable ways of working. The formularisation of the potential additional funding for Shropshire schools in could offer a degree of protection, but only in the very short term for the most financially vulnerable schools in the remotest communities. However, this must be linked to increasing awareness and understanding within individual school governing bodies, and among clusters of schools, of the potential impact of significant falls in projected pupil numbers in their local areas over the next five years. Any changes to the funding formula must place Shropshire schools in the best possible position to ensure a smooth transition to a national funding formula, which is likely to be implemented in the next parliamentary term. 7

Recommended Changes from April Overview Following consideration of various models for allocating the additional funding using the allowable formula factors, Shropshire Schools Forum recommend: An increase to sparsity funding Remainder allocated on a per pupil basis (AWPU) across all Shropshire maintained schools, academies and free school 8

Recommended Changes from April Sparsity To capture Shropshire’s sparse schools the sparsity distance measure to remain at 3 or more miles for primary schools and 9 or more miles for secondary and all-through schools. The number on roll threshold to remain at <150 (21.4 average year group) for primary and <600 (120 average year group) for secondary 9

Recommended Changes from April Sparsity To achieve a fair and appropriate sparsity funding allocation, ensuring core funding covered core expenditure levels for small sparse primary schools, the sparsity funding increase to £50,000 on a tapered approach from £30,000 in

Recommended Changes from April Sparsity To achieve a fair and appropriate sparsity funding allocation, ensuring core funding covered core expenditure levels for small sparse secondary schools, the sparsity funding increase to £100,000 on a flat rate approach from £40,000 in

Recommended Changes from April Sparsity Based on October 2013 data: 14 primary schools and one secondary school attract sparsity funding. This proposed increase to sparsity funding in Shropshire secondary and primary schools costs an additional £198,

Consultation Questions Question 1 Do you agree with maintaining the sparsity criteria, in terms of distance and pupil number thresholds, as outlined in paragraph 15 of the consultation document, to ensure sparsity funding is targeted at Shropshire schools that are sparse? 13 Question 2 Do you agree with the basis for determining the additional sparsity funding recommended within the local funding formula from April 2015 as outlined in paragraphs 19 and 20 of the consultation document?

Recommended Changes from April 2015 – Pupil-led The remainder to be allocated on a per pupil basis through the AWPU Any increase to the AWPU funding within the funding formula to schools will have a corresponding impact on the level of minimum funding guarantee (MFG) a school receives. 14

Recommended Changes from April 2015 – Pupil-led As AWPU increases, MFG reduces This release of MFG allows more funding to be allocated through the AWPU 15

Recommended Changes from April 2015 – Pupil-led After taking into account the proposed increase to sparsity funding and the recycling of MFG, the additional funding allocated on a per pupil basis equates to £333 per pupil 16

Consultation Questions Question 3 Do you agree that the majority of the additional funding should be allocated on a per pupil basis? 17 Question 4 Do you believe other local formula factors, as listed in paragraph 8 of the consultation document, should be used to distribute the additional funding to Shropshire schools and if so which and why?

Important Points for Schools MFG impact For schools in receipt of MFG protection any new additional funding may either all, or in part, be offset by a corresponding reduction to their MFG allocation initially 18

Minimum Funding Guarantee Example 19

Important Points to Note Falling Rolls Schools with falling rolls will see reductions to their funding as it is mainly pupil driven MFG does not protect against a falling roll 20

Important Points to Note Increased Cost Pressures Schools AWPU value will be determined after all DSG pressures, including high needs places and provision costs, are taken into account Schools face increasing cost pressures in relation to pay awards, incremental progression, increasing employers’ pension contributions and non-pay inflation costs 21

Important Points to Note Collaborative Working Schools need to work together to find local solutions to falling rolls and funding over the next few years Need to ensure efficient use of delegated resources 22

Budget Planning Tools School Funding Modelling Tool – to help schools estimate future year budget share allocations to aid budget planning Shropshire Benchmarking Tool – to enable Shropshire schools to compare their income and expenditure with other similar Shropshire schools 23

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Next Steps DateAction 22 September to 16 October 2014Consultation with all Shropshire maintained schools, academies and free schools 2 October 2014School Census 2 October 2014Consultation meeting – invitation to all Shropshire maintained schools, academies and free schools 16 October 2014Consultation with all Shropshire maintained schools, academies and free schools closes. 23 October 2014Schools Forum consider consultation feedback 31 October 2014Local authority submits provisional Schools Budget pro forma to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) 26 November 2014Schools census database closed 10 December 2014Cabinet meeting to approve funding formula December 2014EFA confirms DSG allocations for January 2015LA submits final data for Schools Budget pro forma February 2015LA confirms budget for maintained schools. EFA confirms academies and free schools budgets. 26

Any Questions? 27