MP calls for fairer school funding

MP David Mowat has called on the Government to provide fairer funding for Warrington’s schools – currently the 130th worst funded out of 157 local education authorities across the country.
The Warrington South MP was speaking in a Commons debate on education funding – and following conversations he had recently at Broomfields Junior School, in Appleton.
Mr Mowat called on the Government to make an early start to tackling discrepancies in funding which have been in existence for nearly 20 years.
He said: “Warrington is not a wealthy place. It has wards that are among the most deprived in the country.
“I was shocked to see recently that there is a 50 per cent discrepancy between the funding level of schools in Warrington and those in Westminster.
“Is Westminster that much worse off than Warrington? Are the deprivation indices that much more difficult? I do not think so.
“A lot of words have been written about how difficult it all is, but none of the analyses attempt to justify the status quo. I have seen no serious attempt to say that where we are now is the right place.
“I’m not asking for a national funding formula to be put in place and implemented immediately. I recognise that it could take 10, 15 or 20 years to fix this in its entirety, but that is all the more reason at least to make a start.”
Photo: Mr Mowat speaking at Westminster.