School bosses reassured council won't grab their cash

Education financing rules say schools should try to limit the size of their budget surpluses.

This is supposed to be no more than five per cent for secondary schools and up to eight per cent for primary and special schools and any excess can be take away from them.

“It reads like a mechanism for local authorities to take this off us before it gets to Schools Forum,” said Tony Watson, headteacher at Hebburn Lakes Primary School, at a meeting of the South Tyneside Schools Forum.

He added: “I know for a fact the authority is strapped for cash and I know the reasons.

“I would seek reassurance that they’re not going to do that and if they are, it renders what we’re doing to reduce balances in a humane way useless.”

Teresa Race, South Tyneside Council’s strategic finance manager told the meeting if any funds were taken from schools they would be redistributed through schools grants and not held by the council.

She said: “Around taking balances off schools, it’s any uncommitted balances.

“If any balances were taken off the schools it goes to the Dedicated Schools Grant, it doesn’t get retained by the local authority.”

Although schools are supposed to keep surpluses within set limits, they can be allowed to exceed this for specified projects.

School balances in the borough have lost  more than £1m over the last 12 months, falling to £2.104m in July from £3.267m the year before.

According to a report prepared for the forum, the average surplus held by schools across South Tyneside is 3.5 per cent of their budget.

James Harrison

James Harrison , Local Democracy Reporting Service