Report by Duncan Williams for Pulman's Weekly News
Education unions representing headteachers, teachers and support staff across Devon have called a public meeting to highlight what they describe as a long-standing and unfair funding system which they say leaves the county’s children “worth less” than pupils in other parts of England.
The meeting will take place at 5.30pm on Thursday 12th March at Exeter Library on Castle Street. It is being organised jointly by NAHT, NASUWT, NEU, GMB and UNISON.
Devon is a member of the f40 group, a coalition of the 40 lowest-funded local authorities in England. Union leaders argue that national funding formulas have historically disadvantaged large rural counties such as Devon, where factors including sparsity, transport costs and levels of deprivation are not fully reflected in allocations. As a result, they say, Devon remains consistently below the national average for per-pupil funding.
According to the unions, this longstanding underfunding is now …
