‘New’ cash for building schools
A press release from Ruth Kelly announcing ‘£1b in extra money’ to build and redevelop schools is not new at all. It’s actually just a recycled release from last November. While this double counting is typical political spin the release provides some specifics about what the funds will actually be spent on. These include:
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90 local authority projects
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45 voluntary-aided projects
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10 Classroom of the Future design projects
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3 maintained boarding school projects
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6 music and dance school projects
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3 new faith schools (including the first state Hindu school)
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12 complete school rebuilds for ‘areas late’ in BSF
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2 extra allocations to areas with rising populations.
Buried in the footnotes was an interesting snippet that reads; ‘The Building Schools for the Future Programme....is subject to future public spending decisions’. So the reality of the document wasn’t anything about new investment but rather it was a warning that one of the government’s most important educational reform programmes is entirely dependent on the political decisions of Gordon Brown. Given all the infighting in Cabinet over the most recent educational White paper, it’s hard to gauge whether Gordon Brown will remain committed to BSF when/if he becomes Prime Minister.
However, BSF may face a more immediate threat in the current economic climate. If the Chancellor is to keep to the Golden Rule, then he will have to make an awkward political decision – to raise taxes or reduce spending. Both these and the new White Paper will impact upon BSF.