Around three-quarters of headteachers predict they will have to increase class sizes in the next year because of insufficient school funding, a survey shows.
Two-thirds of heads surveyed (67.6 per cent) say budget cuts have already resulted in class sizes increasing over the past 12 months and 73.7 per cent say this will happen over the next 12 months.
In the survey by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), nearly 60 per cent of heads indicated that they will have to reduce their curriculum offer because of funding pressures.
“I have pared back everything to the bone,” said one headteacher, adding: “The only step left is a reduction in teaching staff and increased class sizes.”
A majority of heads responding (61 per cent) said they will have to cut teachers in the next year and teaching assistants (53 per cent).
A third said they will have to reduce their senior leadership teams.
The impact of school funding pressures
ASCL general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio said schools’ cost rises have outstripped funding allocations, leaving them ”with no option other than to run deficit budgets while they implement cost-cutting programmes”.
Nearly a third of heads (62 per cent) said they will have to run an in-year deficit budget next year.
Nearly two-thirds said they will be forced to cut pastoral support, and more than 40 per cent said they will be asking for parent donations as a result of a lack of funding.
“What we are seeing is the gradual erosion of the curriculum breadth and richness, which is a proud feature of our education system. It is death by a thousand cuts,” said Mr Di’Iasio.
“The government’s public sector spending plans currently pencilled in for the next five years are very tight indeed and add to a bleak picture with little prospect for improvement to this dire situation.”
Reduced purchasing power in budgets
Because of the rising costs schools are facing, the purchasing power of school budgets;will fall by 1 per cent for 2024-25 despite funding increases, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
School leaders and business leaders have increasingly been warning that schools face an “impending financial crisis” because of cost growth.
The IFS said that the next government will face “painful choices” on school spending. With pupil numbers set to drop over the next few years, freezing per-pupil spending in real terms could generate £3.5 billion in savings, the IFS said.
However, researchers warned that this decision would likely leave schools having to cut staff and, in some cases, close.
The ASCL, along with other teaching unions, is calling for the next government to increase investment in schools.
Lack of capital funding
Heads who took part in the survey also raised concerns about a lack of capital funding. More than 70 per cent said they have classrooms that require either replacing or refurbishing.
More than 40 per cent said they had asbestos, and a similar proportion said their boiler or heating system needs replacing.
Most heads (80 per cent) said they cannot access sufficient capital funding to pay for the repairs and maintenance they need.
One headteacher said: ”Next year we will have to run a large in-year deficit which we can just about do for one year by using up our reserves, but after that there will be nothing left to draw upon.
“In other words, two years of the current settlement and we go under.”
The ASCL received responses to the survey from 749 headteachers after sending it out last week.
The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been contacted for comment.
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