Hopefully all of Oxfordshire’s MPs will join the resistance to the new proposed funding formula for our schools. 

The varied impact across Oxfordshire suggests some schools will lose funds in the 3-11 per cent range although other schools may not lose funding.

However, one probing study of the Government’s new funding formula suggests secondary schools could lose an average of six teachers, pushing class sizes up. 

Faced at the same time with resistance in Government and in the Conservative Party to the new funding plans, and cross party opposition to new grammar schools, our County’s Conservative MPs need to consider how the public view their Government’s education ideas extremely carefully.

Our MPs need to challenge the idea that permanent austerity is in some way good for the education of our children. 

After all, about 30 per cent of our children are already living in poverty-stricken households, a figure which will increase when all the recent benefit changes are fully implemented. From a Green Party perspective, a far more ambitious range of taxes which addresses inequality is a key part of funding our education system properly. Oxfordshire Green Party’s County election manifesto sets out a long-term vision of the type of education we need in our County. 

Why should our children be neglected year after year when our massive list of skills shortages tells all of us how mean and short-sighted permanent cuts in public services are?

Dr Hazel Dawe
Oxfordshire Green Party