Half of academies fall short on funding
Why is the NHS perpetually under the spotlight for overspending whilst we hear very little of the crisis assailing academies?
More than half of academies in England have lacked enough income to cover their annual expenditure, according to figures revealed by ministers. As far as I recall LEAs had to balance their books. This story tells us:
An answer to a Parliamentary question shows that the proportion of academy trusts with an annual shortfall doubled in two years.
It comes amid growing warnings about school funding shortages.
But Schools Minister Nick Gibb told MPs on Tuesday that school funding had been protected and was at record levels.
The figures have been revealed in response to a question about academy expenditure from the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Storey.
These figures for 2014-15 show that 53% of stand-alone academies were recorded as having “spent more than their income per year”, up from 42% in the previous year.
Among multi-academy trusts, the proportion spending more than their income was 53%, compared with 25% in the previous year.