Nine-in-10 of the Coalition’s free schools ‘oversubscribed’
Whether free schools are a good or a bad thing, there is no doubt they have had a major impact on chipping away at the morale and funding of LEAs. In a number of rural areas where the LEA is a key factor in keeping small schools open it has becoming increasingly difficult for the state side of education to use its muscle to keep small rural schools open. This article demonstrates some of the controversy currently out in the field in this context:
Figures released by the Department for Education show that almost nine-in-10 of the schools – new primaries and secondaries established by parents’ groups and charities – received more applications than places for September.
Ministers insisted that the figures showed “how popular free schools are with parents”.
But the data will be seized upon by opponents of the system after it emerged that around 13 per cent of the schools officially had fewer applications than places – leaving them standing partially empty in September.
It comes despite claims that schools – which are funded by the taxpayer but run by parents, teachers, charities and faith groups completely independent of local council control – are being opened in areas with a high demand for good school places.
The disclosure was made just a week after research by the National Union of Teachers showed that a fifth of the free schools opened or due to open in September are in areas with large numbers of surplus places in existing schools – wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.
But Lord Nash, the Schools Minister, insisted that most schools were proving hugely popular.
“It goes to show that if you give local communities the freedom to establish high-quality and innovative schools that raise standards, parents will want a place for their child,” he said.