Labour Councillor for Paulton, Liz Hardman, B&NES Labour Group’s Spokesperson for Education, has spoken out in response to the Education Secretary’s shake-up of school funding announced on Monday this week.

She said: “Schools across Bath and North East Somerset have been increasingly anxious about shortfalls in their budgets.

“This issue featured heavily as a concern amongst Heads, teachers and indeed parents during the recent General Election campaign, with the potential for cuts to staff numbers, bigger class sizes and reductions in the number of subjects offered.

“Whilst I am pleased that higher minimum per pupil funding has been found under the revised National Funding Formula, I remain concerned about where this money will be coming from.

“It is not new money. Instead, it has been taken from other educational budgets including, I fear, money set aside for school building projects at a time when there are holes in the floors and ceilings of our classrooms.

“That said, I will not be shedding any tears if some of this additional spending comes from the cash set aside for the disastrous and now discarded Grammar School policy.”