Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, met with the Minister of State for Schools, David Laws MP, to discuss the issue of Staffordshire School funding.
Gavin attended the meeting with a group of MPs that represent constituencies in the Staffordshire region to call on the Department of Education to push for equal funding for schools in his constituency.
David Laws agreed to conduct a review with Staffordshire County Council on funding to see if there could be better funding for schools in the area going forward.
Gavin recently visited Edgecliff High School in Kinver, to discuss plans for the school’s future, resulting in him highlighting their bid to the Secretary of State for Education, to grant priority building scheme funding for the school buildings.
Gavin is a member of the f40 group, a cross party group that acts on behalf of the lowest funded Education Authorities in the country. The group has been campaigning for a fairer deal since the 1990s. He has already joined 50 Conservative colleagues in calling on the Secretary of State for Education to back his plans for a new national funding formula which will introduce a fairer deal for school funding to start as soon as possible.
Gavin said: “For far too long, students in South Staffordshire have been receiving hundreds of pounds less in funding, per head, than students in urban areas such as Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Dudley and the Greater London area. Our pupils deserve an equal investment in their education and I intend to push Ministers to ensure that students in South Staffordshire get the very best deal we can get for them.”
“I have urged on the Secretary of State for Education to back the bid for Edgecliff High School to receive funds from the priority building scheme, which will help rebuild the school and provide pupils with facilities they need and deserve. None of the schools in my constituency have benefitted from any of the schools for the future schemes and have had a particularly poor time in terms of benefitting from any capital schemes in relation to school buildings, having not received any major investment for over two decades.
“This is a small step towards getting a fair funding deal. It is totally wrong that pupils in South Staffordshire miss out and I welcome the Minister’s decision to conduct a review for better funding for our schools.”