Earlier in the year the Department for Education announced their plan for fairer funding in schools as part of their new National Funding Formula. Since he was first elected in May 2015, Kevin Foster has been a member of the Fairer Funding Group and has fought hard for more cash for our fantastic 36 primary and secondary schools in the Bay.
When the initial announcement was made earlier this year, there were real terms percentage increases for over 90% of the schools in Torbay, but Kevin was not happy on behalf of the 10% of schools who were not seeing an increase.
Kevin therefore arranged an urgent face to face meeting in London between himself, the Heads of the schools affected and the Schools Minister, Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP.
Yesterday, the Government announced revisions to their initial plans. It is good news for all of the schools in Torbay, including those originally not getting the increase. Kevin's lobbying has paid off and all schools in the Bay will see a percentage increase if the new National Funding Formula is implemented of between 1% and 10%. The vast majority of schools in the Bay will be receiving and increase of between 5% and 7%. This means more money for Torbay schools to buy books, provide equipment and pay the staff.