North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has hit out at successive Labour Welsh Governments for failing to take action to address the fact that schools in Flintshire have been under funded for years.
Mr Isherwood yesterday challenged the Education Minister, Kirsty Williams AM, over the continuous poor budget settlements for schools in the County and following his exchange in the Chamber, praised staff and pupils for coping well in such circumstances.
Speaking in the Chamber, he said:
“It's now 17 years since secondary headteachers in Flintshire first raised concern with me that they receive one of the lowest school budget settlements in Wales, and they told me about the constant pressures they face managing this while striving for educational excellence.
“They've continued to receive from Welsh Government every year since one of the lowest settlements - this current year, 2019-20, they got the nineteenth out of 22 overall school budget expenditure per pupil, and eighteenth for delegated budgets per secondary school pupil out of 22 local authorities.
“What action have you therefore taken, if any, since publication of a report last September showing that seven of the County’s 11 secondary schools were in the red, with an overall deficit of nearly £1.5 million, made public shortly after an inspection by education watchdog Estyn found that Flintshire Council had allowed a small number of schools to carry a shortfall for too long?”
In her response, the Minister said “the funding of secondary schools in Flintshire is predominantly a matter for Flintshire County Council”
She added: “Flintshire are in receipt of a percentage increase in their budget of over 3.5 per cent, and it is for them, now, to decide how best to use those resources”.
Mr Isherwood added: “Successive Welsh Governments have short-changed Flintshire’s schools and both staff and pupils deserve huge credit in these circumstances. Ministers in Cardiff continue to take the County for granted, but their buck-passing has now passed its sell-by date”.