CASH-STRAPPED schools are having to cut staff to balance budgets, the Express can reveal.
Teaching assistants are among those losing their jobs, or having their hours cut, as schools struggle to cover rising costs.
Union officials and headteachers say the penny-pinching will have a huge impact on education as class sizes increase and c
hildren and teachers lose out on crucial support.
Colin Moran, secretary of the Wakefield Branch of the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT), said: “The costs of services have risen substantially and gas and electricity prices have increased, but budgets are just not keeping up.”
Mr Moran said falling registers were adding to the problem as schools were allocated money per pupil.
Mike Wood, headteacher at Flushdyke School in Ossett, said: “We have fewer pupils than in recent years and at the beginning of term it was looking as though we would have a serious budget problem, but luckily we suddenly had an influx of pupils.
“It’s extremely worrying to be in that position because you can’t just magic extra income.”
One headteacher, who did not want to be named, said she would have to cut staff in the New Year. She said: “It is so frustrating when we work so hard to raise standards but don’t get the financial support to retain them.”
The Express spoke to a number of headteachers who said Wakefield’s schools were under-funded compared with other areas. But a spokesman for the council said schools got more than the government recommendation.
Normanton MP, and secretary of state for children, schools and families, Ed Balls said: “Rising fuel bills and tighter budgets mean things will be tougher in the months ahead, but over the next three years the average funding per pupil will rise by more than 12 per cent in our district.”
The full article contains 314 words and appears in Wakefield Express City newspaper.
