CHILDREN in Houghton Regis are being failed by the current school funding formula, which sees schools in neighbouring Luton receive more than £600 extra per pupil, says MP Andrew Selous.
He told parliament that there was “no logic or rationale” for Central Bedfordshire schools receiving less money money per pupil than those in Luton or Buckinghamshire.
The South West Bedfordshire MP said that although people in Central Beds were mainly better off than in neighbouring Luton, there were still pockets of deprivation.
In a debate on the funding formula, he said funding per child was significantly less than in both Central Beds’ richer and poorer neighbouring local authorities.
Central Beds schools receive £4,658 of government funding per child, compared with Luton schools, which receive £5,315 – an extra £657.
Buckinghamshire schools receive £156 more per child, at £4,814.
In the debate, Mr Selous told schools minister Nick Gibb: “It is very hard, as a Bedfordshire MP, to explain to my constituents why the authorities on either side, one of which is poorer and one of which is richer, receive more money.
“It makes an eloquent case for why the formula has no logic or rationale.
“Every political party across the spectrum in Central Bedfordshire is unhappy about it.
“The leader of Central Bedfordshire Council wrote to the Secretary of State on 25 January to express the views of the whole council on this matter.
“Relatively wealthy areas often have significant pockets of deprivation. That is true in my constituency.
“There is deprivation in Houghton Regis, for example. The indices of multiple deprivation in some wards in that town are not dissimilar to those in much higher-funded Luton next door.
“The formula fails poorer children in wealthier areas.”
Mr Selous said he was pleased that the government was reforming the system to make it fairer.
Mr Gibb said: “The funding arrangements from 2013-14 will make the local funding system simpler and more transparent.
“Education provision will be funded on a much clearer, more comparable basis than under the current system.
“Schools will be able to see precisely how their budgets have been calculated, and why.”