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Teachers urge MPs to debate school funding

TEACHERS, school heads and support staff in England contacted hundreds of MPs ahead of tonight’s Commons debate on education funding urging them to attend.

The debate was triggered by an e-petition signed more than 100,000 times which calls for increased school funding and highlights the cuts that schools are having to make as they are unable to meet rising costs.

National Education Union (NEU) members raised concerns with 490 MPs about overcrowded classrooms, shortages of staff and a lack of support for special education needs, among many.

One teacher from Oxford described Education Secretary Damian Hinds’s claim that more money than ever before is going into schools as “pure sophistry.”

Another from Dagenham said: “My head has had to make tough decisions about who loses out — it’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Something has to be done.”

NEU joint general secretary Mary Bousted said it was scandalous that the government was refusing to recognise the damaging effect of a lack of funding and that it was “failing miserably” in its duty to provide education.

She said: “Teachers, head teachers, support staff, parents and MPs on all sides of the house are not fooled or impressed by the mantra of those on [Prime Minister] Theresa May’s front bench who insist there is no crisis. The real losers here are our children and young people.  

“As a result of budget constraints, schools are having to increase class sizes, drop subjects from the curriculum, greatly reduce special education needs & disability (Send) support, ignore building repairs and make all manner of other cuts.”

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