James Duddridge, Member of Parliament for Rochford and Southend East has welcomed Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Justine Greening’s announcement for £1.3billion boost for core school funding under the new National Funding Formula which will be introduced in 2018. In a statement yesterday the Education Secretary announced an additional £416million in 2018-19 and £884million in 2019-20 on top of the previously set core school budget; and confirmed that the announcement will provide at least a 0.5% a year per pupil cash increase for every school.
In February, James campaigned against the initial National Funding Formula plans, in which Southend would have been one of four local authorities nationwide where every school would have seen a detrimental decrease in funding. Speaking in the Westminster Hall debate on education funding in Southend James pledged to oppose the reforms if they were not changed, and signed a local petition against the proposed plans.
On hearing the announcement of the revised plans yesterday, James said:
“Securing fairer funding for schools, is key in making high standard education accessible to every child. This is great news for local schools, particularly those in Southend who were originally going to be hit the hardest. This should provide reassurance to both teachers and parents that the Government are committed to providing our children with a world-class education”