Funding and organisation

Finance
16  Funding arrangements must support the respective roles of schools and local authorities. Local authorities must be able to retain centrally the funds needed to carry out their responsibilities. But schools have flourished on the opportunities offered by delegation of budgets and managerial responsibilities which Local Management of Schools (LMS) has provided. They should be able to decide, wherever possible, the services they want to buy, and from whom. There are many in Wales, including Heads and governors of small schools, who consider that at 90 per cent delegation the LMS framework has gone as far as it can. We are not entirely convinced that this is the case, and will be consulting on whether it is possible to go further over delegating more power and more money to schools.

17  We also want to develop a school funding system that does not discriminate unfairly between schools or pupils. LMS will be the means through which all schools - community, aided, foundation and special - are funded. Our aim will be to make school budget setting as simple, transparent, and fair as possible. Any changes will, however, have to recognise the different starting points for different schools, including the effect on GM schools' funding arrangements. We must avoid unnecessary disruption to the education of pupils and we will take this into account in consulting on any changes that we propose to the present LMS arrangements. This will govern our considerations as we develop a new LMS framework.

18  The principles of fair funding and avoidance of unnecessary disruption will also govern our work on funding arrangements for GM schools in 1998-99. We will consult on that later this year.

19  Continued under-investment in school buildings has left a difficult legacy. Not enough resources are going to the maintenance, repair and renewal of the stock of school buildings. We believe that there is a strong case for greater priority to be given to spending on school buildings. We shall be asking Welsh authorities to look at this to see whether a switch of priorities can be made within the overall capital resources available to them. We shall pursue with them all possible ways of tackling the backlog. The recently announced extra capital package for schools in Wales will give a significant boost to the realisation of our standards agenda. We shall support the use of public/private partnerships too. Three schools projects have recently received support under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Pathfinder arrangements to help meet the costs of external fees for the preparation and procurement of PFI projects. This will provide practical experience in developing school PFI projects in Wales which can be shared amongst all local authorities and help to unlock potentially substantial private investment. The Welsh Office's PFI Unit will assist local authorities in maximising the use of PFI.

Organisation of school places
20  At present many proposals for making significant changes to schools need approval from the Secretary of State. That includes all proposals in respect of voluntary, GM and special schools; and any LEA proposals relating to new or existing county schools which attract statutory objections. The arrangements were designed to arbitrate between potentially conflicting interests, and allow the government to influence the developing pattern of school places.

21  We want to move to more devolved decision-making. One option would be to establish local forums representing schools, the Churches, the local authority and other interests to draw up a local structure plan for the supply of school places reflecting demographic trends and other factors affecting future need. If that plan met with objections locally, it might be put to an independent local panel or enquiry. Within the context of the plan, proposals relating to individual schools might be considered by the local forum, again with a right of independent appeal.

School admissions
22  We want all schools to provide education of the highest quality. We also want parents to have as much say as possible on where their children go to school. An element of competition between educational institutions is healthy: but unfettered market forces cannot determine sound educational provision. It is unrealistic - and unfair to parents - to give the impression that parental preference can always be met. Thus although commitments given under the Popular Schools Initiative introduced by the previous administration will be honoured, the scheme itself has been discontinued. Parents must have the information they need to learn what schools can offer and to assess their options realistically. Where a school is over-subscribed, criteria for deciding how places are to be offered must be clear and fair. Church schools may reasonably carry out interviews to assess religious or denominational commitment. Places should not otherwise be offered on the basis of an interview with the parent or pupil.

23  At present, LEAs are 'admission authorities' for county and controlled schools but governing bodies play that role in GM, voluntary-aided and special schools. This can lead to difficulties, and uncertainty for parents. We therefore expect to see the development of local forums of headteachers and governors from community, aided and foundation schools to share information about their schools' admission arrangements and their interaction, with administrative support from LEAs. We will expect the forums to develop helpful and timely information for parents and common timetables for applications for their local area. Guidance on the establishment and operation of such forums will be provided by the Welsh Office.

24  National guidelines on admissions policies will be set by the Secretary of State. Aided and foundation schools will be able to put forward admission policies in the light of the guidelines. They will be expected to discuss them with the LEA, which will also have responsibility for the admissions policy of community schools. Where agreement cannot be reached, there will be access to an independent adjudicator. We believe that the vast majority of disputes will be resolved through this mechanism.

25  We propose also that parental appeals against non-admission should be heard by a completely independent body.

26  Under guidance issued by the Welsh Office in 1996, schools are able to select up to 15 per cent of their pupils by academic ability without the need for statutory proposals. This was heavily opposed during last year's consultation on the guidance and, to date, only one school has taken advantage of this arrangement. We shall therefore rule out further partial selection by academic ability. We will ensure that schools with a specialism will be able to give priority to children who demonstrate the relevant aptitude, as long as that is not misused to select on the basis of general academic ability.

Independent schools
27  The new partnership should embrace independent as well as state schools - even though this sector is small in Wales. The best of the independent sector has much to offer children. The Welsh Office will consult local authorities, independent schools and others about ways of sharing partnership opportunities more widely and flexibly. These could include the creation of opportunities locally for many more children to participate in the activities and facilities of independent schools. Such sharing with the community would be an expression of their charitable status.
 
 

Summary This chapter sets out a new framework for partnership in raising standards, including: a new structure of foundation, community and aided schools to balance diversity, school self-determination, fairness and co-operation; firm support for school governors; a clear role for LEAs, particularly in helping to raise standards; fair and transparent systems for calculating school budgets, which maximise delegation of funds to schools; raising capital for investment in a decent environment for pupils and teachers through private/public partnerships; more local decision making about changes in the supply of school places; fairer ways of deciding school admission arrangements; building bridges between state and independent schools. Issues for consultation We shall publish for consultation later this summer details of how the framework will operate, paving the way for legislation in the autumn. That will cover in particular consultation on the foundation, community and aided structure; the role of LEAs; revising the framework for Local Management of Schools; devolving decision making on the supply of school places; and procedures for school admissions. The Welsh Office has established a consultative group representing the main national organisations in Wales to help us work up the consultation document. The group includes a representative of GM schools in Wales. Meanwhile, comments on the proposed framework would be welcome, and in particular on: whether the principles set out in paragraphs 2 to 7 for designing the new schools framework are the right ones? how school governing bodies can best be supported in carrying out their role?