A short Suffolk straw
Last month the Government announced its three-year school funding settlement for every Local Education Authority in England. As with most public investment, urban areas continue to be favoured while rural areas like Suffolk are short changed. We are 134th out of 149 Local Education Authorities.
As a result of this, I sent out a school funding questionnaire to all the head teachers in my constituency to get their view on the new funding allocation, and a majority have now replied. All of those who replied passionately believe that Suffolk schools do not receive fair Government funding and that the new school funding settlement is unbalanced.
Many head teachers in my constituency feel that rural areas such as Suffolk are discriminated against in favour of urban areas. They highlight that increased costs as a result of transport and the location of rural schools have not been properly taken into consideration. Many also complained that pockets of deprivation and poverty found in rural areas are often neglected and are not sufficiently reflected in the funding formula. All in all, the general consensus among head teachers in my constituency is that the new funding allocation does not meet the needs of local rural communities.
Given the evidence and the responses of head teachers, I have now written to the Secretary of State, Ed Balls, asking him to initiate an enquiry into the rurality factor which clearly is inadequately represented in Suffolk’s funding formula. There is no reason as to why education in Suffolk should be seen as being any less important then it is in other cities and towns.
The Government needs to stop treating rural people as poor relations. Rural areas continue to lag behind on both public investment and access to public services. In most cases the situation is getting even worse with local amenities such as post offices and pubs closing at a worrying rate.
Whether it is health, education, or local government grants, we get the short straw, and people in Suffolk really know this, and are voting accordingly.