More schools face axing staff or closure amid falling rolls, ministers have been warned, after a nationwide trust announced that redundancies are on the way across many of its academies.
It comes as an MP said the government had agreed to investigate the financial management at another trust which is proposing budget cuts of up to £800,000.
But Jonathan Simons, of the Public First think tank, urged politicians not to turn such cases into political footballs.
“No one goes into education wanting to sack teachers or close schools,” he said.
“But the fact is that school funding is tight at the best of times, and that means that, when pupil rolls fall, schools and trusts are faced with very difficult decisions.”
DRET woes
At the David Ross Education Trust, a third of schools are set to make “staffing changes” as they wrestle with the falling rolls crisis.
The 36-school chain is looking to make the cuts – which will include redundancies – after a review of its central team failed to address the “scale of the funding reduction” caused by the decrease in pupils.
“While these steps have helped, they have not fully addressed the scale of the funding reduction and, in some cases, schools also need to make staffing changes,” a trust spokesperson said.
“While there will be a limited number of redundancies, our approach has prioritised central teams and redeployment where possible.”
The changes will in “most cases” involve a “small number of roles”, they added.
£800k cuts
Meanwhile in the south-west, the Initio Learning Trust has faced criticism from local MP Vikki Slade as it consults on restructures at two of its academies, Queen Elizabeth’s and Corfe Hills.
In a letter to education minister Georgia Gould, Slade, a Liberal Democrat, said the schools are “facing cuts of £700,000 to £800,000 next year”. One is “more than halving its teaching assistant cohort and reducing staffing in French and science”, she wrote.
The other is “cutting teaching staff across creative subjects” at GCSE and A-level.
She demanded an independent investigation into Initio’s financial management and governance, along with “legislative measures to ensure MATs are meaningfully accountable to parents, staff and communities”.
Slade continued: “While falling rolls are cited as a cause of frontline cuts, this was predictable demographic variation.
“Yet MATs continue to expand and fund high executive pay, while children, teachers and support staff bear the brunt. Success is too often measured in the number of schools absorbed … rather than the outcomes or wellbeing of pupils.”
Following a meeting with Gould this week, Slade said the minister “acknowledged that the concerns raised about Initio Learning Trust warranted closer examination and agreed to investigate whether similar issues are occurring nationally”.
The Department for Education was approached for comment.
‘More schools will shrink’
Simons argued that there “is absolutely no evidence” academy trusts are negotiating funding issues differently to local authorities.
He pointed out that “Labour-run London councils closed more than 30 schools last year”.
An Initio spokesperson noted that the trust has “worked to ensure this process is approached with transparency and fairness”.
This has involved “holding meetings and providing reassurance so that all stakeholders, including local MPs, are able to engage in a meaningful way”.
Initio stressed that the “future sustainability of our schools is a key priority”. Its consultation is ongoing and “no final decisions will be made until all options have been fully considered”.
Simons added: “It is highly likely that more schools will shrink and close in coming months and years and teacher numbers may fall.
“It would be a shame if MPs and ministers made this a party-political issue, or an issue of trusts versus local authorities. That’s not in teachers’ interests – or children’s.”
Strike action
Last week, Schools Week reported that dozens of schools across two trusts have been rocked by support staff strike announcements over planned restructures labelled “neither fair nor sustainable”.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic MAT chief James McGeachie stressed that he had already exhausted other cost-saving options as academies struggle with falling rolls.
Stephen Morales, chief executive at the Institute of School Business Leadership, warned: “If we continue to find ourselves in a tight fiscal environment, then it is inevitable that we’re going to see more of this.
“You shouldn’t be surprised to see leaders make difficult decisions, and it is inevitable disputes with unions will emerge.”
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