Emma Hardy, the MP for Hull West and Hessle, has expressed concerns over the ongoing school cuts in Hull West and Hessle.
Schools and colleges are struggling to make ends meet. The Government’s real-terms cuts to education funding have seen £2.8 billion cut from school budgets since 2015. This is resulting in significant damage to the education our schools and colleges are able to provide.
Worse still is on the horizon with 17,942 schools (equal to nine out of ten) hit by a real terms cut in funding per pupil from 2015-19.
New research by the school cuts coalition of unions (NEU, NAHT, ASCL, UNISON, GMB and Unite) shows that 62% of secondary schools in England have increased the size of their classes in the last two years (2014/15 to 2016/17).
Over the same period, staff numbers in England’s secondary schools have fallen by 15,000 between despite their being 4,500 more pupils to teach.
The School Cuts website has recently been updated to include these new figures on staffing numbers. The website continues to provide details of the cuts since 2015 school by school. The website indicates that, on average, school funding has been cut by £250 per pupil in Hull West and Hessle over that time frame.
Commenting, Emma said:
“Schools have been doing all they can to shield their pupils from the damage caused by this Conservative Government’s decision to cut £2.8 billion from school budgets since 2015 but this lack of investment is really starting to bite.
“I am not going to stand back and let these cuts happen. Children and young people only get one chance at school and college and we know that education cuts never heal. As a country we should be investing in this and future generations of young people. I am calling on the Government to urgently address the funding crisis urgently and not continue to ignore these very real problems”.
