Schools in West Sussex have been suffering financially that teachers have been suggesting to either cut the number of hours or even resort to a four-day week if the government will not grant them any emergency financial aid.
The West Sussex schools who have been suffering financially for many years said that they have done everything to cut expenses but these are not still enough to sustain them. Their only hope, according to them, was the national funding formula by the government which will take into effect next year. The said initiative was supposed to address "historic inequities" in the education system. However, those hopes were quashed when the government decided to delay it because of the Brexit vote.
Teachers have started a campaign called Worth Less to push the four-day week in order to send a message to the government. They are also demanding that a £20m emergency fund be injected into the underfunded schools in April to help tide them over.
Parents are supporting the teachers in their campaign. However they are also afraid of the backlash it can create especially on its negative effect to their children's education. More so, they are also worried that if the four-day week will push through, it will also bring more child care problems.
Peter Woodman, headteacher of the Weald school in Billingshurst said that they don't want to resort t such actions but they are given no other alternatives. He added that the four-day week proposal is the only way to go after considering various ways to save money.
Some of the proposals they've thought of to reduce expenses include larger class sizes, reducing expenses on books and technology, cutting on school maintenance, and no replacement for teachers and staff who are on leave. They've argued, however, that a lot of schools have already taken these steps but are still greatly underfunded.
The Department of Education has already responded that they are committed to push through with the proposed national funding formula saying:
"We want all schools, including those in West Sussex, to have access to the resources they need so that every pupil regardless of background or ability can reach their full potential. That’s why we have protected the schools budget so that, as pupil numbers increase, so will the amount of money for our schools – in 2016-17 that will total over £40bn, the highest on record."
